People

Catherine Searle
Associate Professor

Jonathan Lopez
Ph.D. candidate

JLo 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. candidate

Kurt has a bachelor's and master's degree 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

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

amunizto@purdue.edu

Marisa Laitinen
Ph.D. student

(Co-advised with Dan Park)

Marisa is a second-year graduate student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Purdue University. She received a B.S. from Michigan State University in 2023 and is now utilizing her past research experiences to fuel her excitement and curiosity about plant phenology, specifically within the context of climate change.

mdigiuse@purdue.edu

Megan Lawson
Purdue senior

Megan is studying how temperature affects in vitro pathogen growth.

Kendall Claymon
Purdue senior

Kendall is studying the relationship between host pathogen load and shedding rate.

Caitlin Baumann
Purdue senior

Mary Wang
Purdue sophomore

Auriani Gómez Cintrón
Summer REU student

Auri is studying how temperature affects host competence in Daphnia.

Lab alumni

Former graduate students

Paradyse Blackwood (2019-2024, Ph.D.). Currently a postdoc at the University of British Columbia Website.

Spencer Siddons (2016-2022, Ph.D.). Currently a postdoc at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Website.

Hector Zumbado-Ulate (2015-2021, Ph.D.). Currently an assistant professor at Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica. Website.

Former technicians

Ben Berggren (2022-2023) Currently a graduate student at Univeristy of North Texas.

Kacie Jonasen (2018-2020) Currently a veterinary technician.

Abigail Merrick (2015-2018; lab technician & M.S. student). Currently an environmental toxicologist at the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene.

Former undergraduates:

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

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

Roger Braun. (2021-2022). Independent project: "The effects of incrased salinity concentrations on different ages of Daphnia pulex."

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."

Paula Galindo (Summer 2023). REU project: "Thermoregulatory dynamics: decoding the sex-based temperature preferences in Bd-infected frogs." Colombia-Purdue Partnership program.

Alahana González (Summer 2023). REU project: "Field pathogen shedding rates in amphibians." SROP program.

Ethan Guardado (2023-2024). Undergradaute honors thesis: "How skin coloration modulates behavioral fever in Northern leopard frogs and Pickerel frogs."

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).

Maggie Kelly (2022-2023).

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

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

Allison Milicia (2020-2021).

Ethan Muñiz (Summer 2023). REU project: "Predicting infection prevalence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis from frog calling characteristics."

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."

Isis Atenea Medina (Fall 2024). Independent project: "Amphibian biodiversity and health in Tippecanoe County." Purdue-Tecnológico de Monterrey undergraduate research program.

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

Luke Papai. (2021-2022). Independent project: "Niche partitioning between American bullfrogs and green frogs."

Emileo Peralta. (2022-2025). Independent project: “The effects of total nitrogen and total phosphorus on amphibian disease.”

Nicole Perry (2021-2022).

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

Kayla Robbins (2023-2025).

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."

Koby Sellner. (2023-2025). Independent project: “Just “Beet” it? A comparison of road salt effects on the life history of Daphnia magna.”

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."