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Graduate program faculty

Looking to join a lab?   Many of our faculty are looking for new students every year.
Please visit individual faculty websites to learn more about the research of EEB graduate faculty.

FacultyResearch FocusLab Website/Email

Frank Albert

Genomics, statistical and quantitative genetics, transcriptomics

Albert Lab

David Andow

Ecological risk assessment of biological stressors, such as invasive species and genetically engineered organisms. Insect resistance management, gene flow and its consequences, and non-target species effects. Science policy associated with GMOs. Ecology of natural enemy food webs in agricultural crops, including interactions involving predators, such as anthocorids, coccinnelids, chrysopids and parasitoids in maize. The use of vegetational diversity in the conservation of natural enemies.

F. Keith Barker

Avian phylogeny and genetics, evolution of social behavior, spatial and temporal patterns, molecular evolution

Barker Lab

Mark Bee

Acoustic communication, aggression, auditory perception, neurophysiology, auditory scene analysis, behavioral plasticity, honest signaling, neuroethology sexual selection, sound pattern recognition, sound localization, territoriality

Bee Lab

Ran Blekhman

Human genomics, human microbiome

Blekhman Lab

Elizabeth Borer

Nutrient network (NutNet), nitrogen deposition, global change, biodiversity, ecosystem function, grasslands

Borer website

Mark Borrello

History of biology, evolutionary theory, genetics, ecology, biology of behavior, biology and society

Yaniv Brandvain

Grounded in theoretical and empirical population genomics, my group investigates plant evolution at micro and macroevolutionary scales. 

Lab website

Joseph Bump

Forest wildlife ecology, conservation, and management; animal ecology and ecosystem processes; climate change and predator-prey dynamics; aquatic-terrestrial links; carcass ecology, stable isotope ecology 

Kathryn Bushley

Fungal metabolism

Jeannine Cavender-Bares

Physiological ecology,plant integration, phylogenetics, linking plant function, evolutionary history, environmental gradients, phylogeography, local adaptation, conservation

Cavender-Bares Lab

James B. Cotner

Biological limnology and oceanography, biogeochemistry, microbial ecology

Meggan Craft

Infectious disease dynamics in animal populations.

Craft Lab

James W. Curtsinger

Conservation biology; ecology, evolution, and behavior; gerontology

Antony M. Dean

Biochemistry; ecology, evolution and behavior; microbial engineering

Biotechnology Institute

R. Ford Denison

Evolution of cooperation; agricultural implications of past and ongoing natural selection; life-history tradeoffs as a possible explanation for stress-induced longevity.

Jacques C. Finlay

My lab studies freshwater ecosystems and their interactions with surrounding landscapes.

Finlay Lab

Valery Forbes

Our research focuses on predicting the effects of toxic chemicals and other stressors on populations using mechanistic modeling.

Forbes Lab

James D. Forester

Animal movement ecology, quantitative landscape ecology.

Forester Lab

David L. Fox

Paleobiology and paleoclimatology.

Lee E. Frelich

Susan M. Galatowitsch

Ecological restoration of wetlands, rivers, lakeshores, prairies; land use impacts to wetland biodiversity; climate change adaptation.

Galatowitsch Group website

Paloma Gonzalez-Bellido



Jeff Gralnick

Physiology of Shewanella

Gralnick Lab

Jessica Gutknecht

I study soil microbial community dynamics and how they inform our understanding of ecosystem functions such as carbon cycling and sustainability.

Gretchen Hansen

Climate change, long-term trends in fish populations, aquatic invasive species, food webs/community dynamics, landscape models of fish habitat, and adaptive management.



We do experimental evolutionary ecology of microbial systems.

Lab website

George Heimpel

We study host-parasitoid interactions, usually in the context of biological control of invasive species; projects include conservation of Darwin's finches in the Galapagos Islands and biological control of agricultural pests and weeds in the United States.

Heimpel Lab



Ecological effects of climate change and strategies for reducing climate-related risks in species and ecosystems. 

Lab website

Sarah Hobbie

Ecosystem ecology,  carbon and nutrient cycling, decomposition, species effects on ecosystem processes, plant-soil interactions

Research website

Forest Isbell

Anthropogenic drivers and ecosystem consequences of changes in biodiversity.

Lab Website

Sharon Jansa

Systematics, biogeography, and diversification of mammals, particularly rodents and opossums.

Jansa Lab

Susan Jones

Disease, anthrax, history of science, human-animal interactions

Peter Kennedy

Symbioses, ectomycorrhizal fungi

Kennedy Lab

Linda Kinkel


Ecology and evolutionary biology of soil and plant microbiomes focusing on the relationships between plant communities, soil carbon dynamics, and microbiome composition and functional characteristics.

Kenneth Kozak


Amphibians & Reptiles

Scott Lanyon

Avian systematics,  comparative phylogenetics, phylogeneticmethods

Diane Larson

Plant-pollinator interactions at the community scale and how invasive plants (and their control) affect these interactions.

Northern Prairie Homepage

Daniel Larkin

Restoration ecology, invasion biology


Theoretical ecology,  computational biology, biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, habitat restoration, ecology of disease

Georgiana May

Evolution of host/microbe interactions, molecular evolution, genome organization, fungal population genetics

Suzanne McGaugh

Conservation genetics, positive and background selection in the genome, genetic signatures, molecular evolution, population genetics, population genomics, quantitative genetics, recombination, speciation

McGaugh Lab

L. David Mech

My research involves monitoring wolf-deer relations in the Superior National Forest.

David Moeller

Evolution of species' geographic ranges, ecology of speciation, genetics of speciation, mating systems, floral evolution, evolution of plant-herbivore interactions, evolution of plant-pollinator interactions, molecular population genetics, phylogeography

Moeller Lab Website

Rebecca Montgomery

Global change impacts on forest ecosystems,phenology, the timing of biological activity and how it influences ecological communities.

The Montgomery Lab

Raymond Newman

Assessing control of invasive aquatic macrophytes and factors influencing restoration of native macrophyte communities.

Karen Oberhauser

Invertebrate conservation and ecology, with particular interest in monarch butterflies; citizen science and ecological monitoring; promoting a citizenry with a high degree of scientific and environmental literacy.

Craig Packer

Animal cognition, savanna ecology, wildlife conservation, primarily in southern Africa.

Lion Research Center

Steve Polasky

Ecosystem services,  natural capital, biodiversity conservation, endangered species policy, ecological and economic analysis, renewable energy, environmental regulation, common property resources

Jennifer Powers 

Ecosystem ecology of tropical landscapes

Sushma Reddy

Origins and maintenance of biological diversity, primarily, the evolutionary history of birds

Peter Reich

Ecology, tree physiology, ecophysiology, and silviculture

Forest Ecology Laboratory

Michael Sadowsky

Molecular plant-microbe interactions in nitrogen-fixing symbiotic systems, investigations of the use of microorganisms for biodegradation and bioremediation; molecular methods to determine sources and kinds of bacteria in the environment; and metagenomics of soil, water, and intestinal environments. (Not accepting new graduate students)

Eric Seabloom

Community ecology, disease ecology, restoration ecology, species invasions, top-down and bottom-control of communities, animal behavior

Lab Website

Allison Shaw

Evolutionary and ecological aspects of migration and dispersal behaviors.

Shaw Lab Website

Ruth Shaw

Evolutionary responses of native plant populations to spatially varying and changing environments.

Andrew Simons

Systematics and evolution of trophic morphology in fishes.

Simons Lab Website

Emilie Snell-Rood

Evolution of behavioral and developmental plasticity, especially in the context of anthropogenic change.

Snell-Rood Lab

Peter Sorensen

Biology and control of invasive fishes, behavior of fish; olfaction; fish reproductive biology; pheromones; fish migration; aquatic chemical ecology, marine biology.

Marla Spivak

Mechanisms of honey bee social immunity, incorporating molecular, cellular, behavioral and ecological approaches to improve bee health.

Bee Lab Website

Daniel Stanton

Lichen ecology, bryophyte ecology, plant ecophysiology, desert ecosystems, fog and dew, self-organizing systems 

Stanton Lab Website 

David Stephens

Experimental and theoretical behavioral ecology especially the statistical determinants of behavioral plasticity and the evolution of non-human conventions. (Not accepting new graduate students)

Robert Sterner

Ecological stoichiometry, balance of elements in ecological systems.  

The Sterner Lab

G. David Tilman

Ecological effects of humans, biodiversity, population ecology, resource competition, ecosystem, Cedar Creek

Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve

Peter Tiffin

Plant population genetics, molecular ecology, plant-herbivore/plant-microbe interactions

Tiffin Lab

Michael Travisano

Ecological and evolutionary dynamics, evolutionary genetics, microbial ecology and evolution

Travisano Lab

Paul Venturelli

Life history, temperature effects, and population dynamics in the context of fish management and conservation.

Trevor Wardill

I am a sensory neurobiologist. I investigate evolution of dynamic cephalopod iridescence and colour vision in flies, how they evolved, how they function and what purpose they serve in the ecology of the animal. In particular, I am interested in understanding how squids generate skin patterns and colour changes though dynamic iridescence and how flies use their colour vision to avoid predation or find mates and food. I use advanced methods in genetics, 2-photon imaging and behavioural quantification.

Wardill Lab

George Weiblen

Plant and insect systematics, molecular phylogenetics, population genetics, ecology and coevolution. 

Weiblen Lab

Michael Wilson

Social behavior, communication, intergroup relations, aggression, wildlife health, conservation

Ya Yang

Plant systematics, evolutionary genomics

Yang Lab

Marlene Zuk

Sexual selection and mate choice, ways that parasites and disease can affect those patterns. 

Zuk Lab