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mentors

Participating AU mentors are experts in synergistic ecological disciplines (see below) and have significant experience training undergraduate student research.  Moreover, our mentors are passionate about training undergraduate students and will participate in all aspects of the REU Site program.  Students chosen to participate in the REU program are encouraged to identify mentors whose research interests parallel their own to develop an interesting research project soon after arriving in Auburn.  We intend to have each REU student be mentored by two or three faculty with complementary yet different expertise.  Check out the tentative REU project ideas.

   

Cissy Ballen 

Dr. Cissy Ballen

Research Interests: Biology education, STEM equity, science literacy, assessment of research experiences

   

Abby Beatty 

Dr. Abby Beatty (postdoc in Cissy Ballen's lab)

Research Interests: Biology education, STEM equity, science literacy, assessment of research experiences

   

Moises 

Dr. Moises Bernal

Research Interests: Environmental and evolutionary genomics of marine fishes

 

Ian Butts

Dr. Ian Butts

Research Interests: Reproductive physiology, gene banking, sexual selection, hatchery science

   

Edna 

 

Dr. Edna Fernandez-Figueroa (postdoc in Stephanie Roger's lab)

Research Interests: Water quality management, unmanned aerial vehicles

Lori Eckhardt

Matt Gladfelter (PhD student in Alan Wilson's lab)

Research Interests: Cyanobacteria-bacteria interactions, field experiments, molecular ecology

   

Peter Marting

Dr. Peter Marting (postdoc with Michael Smith)

Research Interests: Behavioral ecology, ant-plant interactions, ecosystem ecology

 

Stephanie Rogers 

Dr. Stephanie Rogers

Research Interests: GIS, remote sensing, unmanned aerial vehicles, LiDAR

   

Michael Smith

Dr. Michael Smith

Research Interests: Bee ecology, colony function

 

Marie

Dr. Marie Strader

Research Interests: Molecular ecology of marine invertebrates

 

Kevin Wang

Dr. Dengjun (Kevin) Wang

Research Interests: Contamination remediation, aquatic environments

 

Nathan Whelan 

Dr. Nathan Whelan

Research Interests: Evolution, conservation genetics, systematics and taxonomy

   

Alan Wilson 

Dr. Alan Wilson

Research Interests: Community and population ecology, harmful algal blooms, field experiments, plankton dynamics, meta-analysis

   

Matt Wolak 

Dr. Matt Wolak

Research Interests: Population ecology, quantitative genetics, evolutionary ecology, herpetology, behavior

   
   

mentor spotlight

Kevin Wang

Dr. Dengjun (Kevin) Wang