Dr. Katrina Munsterman

Dissertation title: How fish and fisher behavior affect production in small-scale reef fisheries

1) My favorite experiences during my PhD were spent in the field. I spent a collective 13+ months living and working in fishing communities across islands in The Caribbean.

2) I chose EEB because I wanted to be challenged to think broadly and apply an integrative approach to conservation with my advisor, Dr. Jake Allgeier.

3) My advice for incoming grad students would be to find your people – those who are going to advocate for you, support you, and push you to be the best scientist you can be.

4) I am now working for NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle, WA as a Fisheries Scientist. I am thrilled to apply my knowledge of social ecological systems to advance science for US fisheries management.

Dr. Siliang Song

Dissertation title: Selections in molecular and phenotypic evolution

1) I enjoyed taking EEB 512 "Molecular and Genomic Evolution" taught by Prof. Jianzhi Zhang, and EEB 490 "Evolution at the Population Level" taught by Prof. Alexey Kondrashov. They were the most insightful evolutionary biology courses I have ever taken.

2) I was initially very interested in insect taxonomy and even intended to pursue a career in entomology. During my undergraduate studies, I joined an entomology lab and worked on a project involving phylogenetic analyses of Hymenoptera. To support this work, I read Ziheng Yang's Computational Molecular Evolution, which opened my eyes to the depth of math and statistics in evolutionary biology. I was fascinated by the logical rigor of the field and found it intellectually rewarding. This experience ultimately led me to apply to EEB graduate programs, with a focus on computational and theoretical analysis of evolution.

3) My advice? Explore diverse fields of science, both within and beyond EEB, to identify the one that you are truly passionate about.

Dr. Libby Davenport 

Dissertation title: Causes and consequences of disease outbreaks in aquatic environments

1) Sampling for zooplankton in lakes near Ann Arbor was a major portion of my dissertation research and ultimately my favorite EEB experience. Visiting these lakes year after year was an opportunity to learn about seasonal disease outbreaks in zooplankton communities. There is something very special about conducting field work and observing these natural systems over many years. My appreciation for lake ecosystems continues to grow.

2) I learned about the field of disease ecology during an undergraduate invertebrate zoology course, and I was immediately hooked. Studying the ecology and evolutionary biology of host-parasite interactions during graduate school has been fascinating. As an undergraduate, I also had the opportunity to conduct research focusing on the fitness effects of mutation accumulation using Daphnia pulex as my study organism. At U-M, I continued to study Daphnia but in the context of host-parasite interactions in the lab of Meghan Duffy.

3) My advice for incoming grad students is to explore a wide range of research areas early during your graduate studies because you may find interesting connections or knowledge gaps that exist across fields. I would encourage incoming graduate students to attend conferences and reach out to researchers who are doing work that you find interesting. You never know when a collaborative project may arise.

Next year, I will be a postdoc in Tara Stewart Merrill’s lab at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. My research will focus on how the individual impacts of parasites on hosts scale up to influence ecosystem functioning.