People

Catherine Searle
Associate Professor

Paradyse Blackwood
Ph.D. candidate, NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Paradyse is interested in how environmental variation (e.g. temperature change), anthropogenic stressors, and disease interact to shape the health and abundance of amphibian species. They are studying how varying temperatures interact with road salt pollution to impact host-parasite interactions and how disease can influence species invasions.

Link to website here.

pblackwo@purdue.edu

Jonathan Lopez
Ph.D. student

JLo recently received his undergraduate degree from Sewanee: The University of the South. He is interested in the intersection of infectious disease and behavior.

lopez588@purdue.edu

Kurt Lutz
Ph.D. student

Kurt has a bachelor's degree (and Master's degree in progress) from San Francisco State University. For his master's, he studied the effect of biodiversity on disease risk in pond systems with protected species in California. He also previously worked on several land management/sensitive species programs in the Bay Area as a biological consultant.

lutz46@purdue.edu

Aura Muñiz Torres
Ph.D. student, Purdue Doctoral Fellow

Aura has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez and a master’s from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her research these past years has been focused on amphibian disease ecology. For her PhD she wants to focus on disease dynamics interactions within amphibian community assemblages, especially focused on conservation and disease mitigation strategies.

amunizto@purdue.edu

Ben Berggren
Research technician

Ben recently received his undergraduate degree from Austin College and is working on various projects in the amphibian-Bd system.

bberggre@purdue.edu

Luke Papai
Purdue senior

Luke is studying biodiversity-disease relationships in the amphibian-Bd system.

Emileo Peralta
Purdue sophomore

Emileo is helping quantify amphibian diversity, abundance, and infection in the field.

Megan Lawson
Purdue sophomore

Lab alumni

Former graduate students and technicians:

Kacie Jonasen (2018-2020, lab technician) Veterinary technician.

Abigail Merrick (2015-2018, lab technician & M.S. student) Environmental toxicologist at the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene.

Spencer Siddons (2016-2022, Ph.D. student). Postdoc at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Website.

Hector Zumbado-Ulate (2015-2021, Ph.D. student). Postdoc at UC Riverside. Website.

Former undergraduates:

Isabel Adarve-Rengifo. (2019). Independent project: "The effects of leaf litter on growth of the amphibian fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis."

Mariah Burgmeier. (2018-2019). Independent project: "Effects of road salts on proliferation of an amphibian fungal pathogen."

Marin Bray (2017-2019). Independent project: "Examining differences in anuran communities between man-made and natural wetlands in central Indiana."

Maggie Bui (2020-2022).

Mackenzie Chapman. (2015-2018) Undergraduate honors thesis: "Resource competition and its effect on disease dynamics in freshwater zooplankton populations."

Jasmina (Lulu) Davis (2020-2022). Honors thesis "Assessing the effect of Bd reservoir species on susceptible frog species within their geographic ranges in Costa Rica."

Brittany Heil (Farmer) (2017-2019). Undergraduate honors thesis: "Effects of salinity on invasion in freshwater communities."

Fabiola Fontán-Fontán (Summer 2020). REU project: "The biodiversity of zooplankton communities in permanent and temporary ponds."

Baylie Hochstedler. (2016-2017) Undergraduate honors thesis: "Effects of resources and parasites on competition between a native and invasive zooplankton."

Juliana Ilmain. (2017-2018) Undergraduate honors thesis: "The impact of infectious disease on toxic effects in a freshwater zooplankton model."

Prasanna Janakiraman. (2017-2018)

Alana López-Cruz (Summer 2022). REU project: "The demographic effect of supplementation and the introduction of a deadly pathogen."

Emily Martin (2019-2022). Undergraduate honors thesis: "Plant leachates impact amphibian infection with a fungal pathogen."

Allison Milicia (2020-2021).

Kiersten Nelson (2018-2019). Undergraduate honors thesis: "Prevalence and infection intensity of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis across an altitudinal gradient in Costa Rica."

Amirah Nieves Medina (Summer 2022). REU project: "Variation in host competence for Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis across temperatures."

Kaitlin O'Leary. (2014-2015) Independent project: "Inducing predator defenses in an invasive aquatic species."

Nicole Perry (2021-2022).

David Prather. (2016-2019). Undergraduate honors thesis: "The effects of antibiotics on host-parasite dynamics in freshwater ecosystems."

Liz Rosario. (Summer 2017) REU project: "Comparison of frog call characteristics between natural and man-made habitats."

Meredith Scherer. (2019-2021). Undergraduate honors thesis: "Idenfitying tradeoffs in responses of Daphnia genotypes to a pathogen and abiotic stress."

Jeannine Toth (2018-2020).

Maggie Wigren. (2015-2016) Undergraduate honors thesis:"The effects of resource availability on reproduction, competition and disease susceptibility in a native and invasive zooplankton."