Current Graduate students
Marlen Terrazas is a current PhD student in the Phillips lab. She is studying behavioral phenotypes and mate selection across different combinations of sensory pollution in our New Mexico system.
Trenton Voytko is a current master's student in the Phillips lab at WSU. His thesis will focus on how the interaction between anthropogenic light and noise influences avian movement ecology and circadian rhythms. Trenton has worked with a variety of bird species and hopes to use his degree to work with state and federal agencies to improve avian conservation efforts. You can always find him with binoculars in hand!
Aurora Schermbeck is a current master's student at WSU. Her thesis will investigate habitat use, nest survival, fledgling habitat use, and song features of black-capped vireos at Government Canyon State Natural Area.
Undergraduate researchers
Allie Ozmun-Wells is an Honors undergraduate in Wildlife Ecology and a pre-veterinary student, analyzing bird song data for graduate student Aurora Schermbeck. Allie is passionate about behavioral ecology, disturbance ecology, and creative science communication.
Kelton Masterson started as a freshman in the Phillips Lab as an IGNITE undergraduate researcher, and is assisting with acoustic data analysis from multiple avian study systems.
Mila Singson started as a freshman in the Phillips Lab as an IGNITE undergraduate researcher, and is working on a project investigating whether distance from noise and light sources affect site selection and breeding outcomes in our New Mexico system and the WSU bird box system. She is interested in wildlife conservation and animal behavior.
Liz Heilman is an undergraduate junior at WSU majoring in Wildlife Ecology, and is working in the lab to understand what habitats support painted bunting populations in San Antonio, as well as collecting data on cavity nesting birds over the summer at the WSU Arboretum and Steffen Center.
Postdoctoral fellows
Jennifer Heppner joined the Phillips lab in Fall 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow. She obtained her PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno where she studied the role of food availability on hormones and fitness in house wrens across an urban gradient.
Fledglings
Cayden Steele was a senior at WSU who successfully defended his Honor's Thesis in the Phillips lab. He has always been interested in wildlife and drawing and loves to portray animals in art. Recently he have taken a couple trips abroad to study and observe a few species in their natural habitat. These experiences have fueled his love for the natural world and inspired him to become a field researcher. He hopes to someday get PhD in animal behavior and help contribute to conservation efforts of endangered species through science and art.
Sierra Rodriguez (M.S.) investigated how sensory pollution affects pollination ecology for her master's thesis. She is currently is putting her cell biology skills to work in an immunogenetics lab.
Alfredo Paul Llamas (M.S.) studied the urban ecology and management of birds populations and diversity in San Antonio, Texas. He now teaches environmental biology and is active in conservation efforts in San Antonio.
Undergraduate students 2021-2023
Thomas Connor was a TAMUSA undergraduate researcher funded through the Seeligson Conservation Grant to collect data on Painted Bunting nesting habitats and post-fledging survival.
Ian Rockel (now a master's student in the Watson Lab), Christina Helmick (above center), Robert Shelly (above right), Ashlynn Smith (below), Bria Valadez (not pictured), and Erika Rocha (below) worked tirelessly in the summer of 2021 to monitor bird activity at nest boxes and measure light at night on the TAMUSA campus.
Ashlynn Smith monitoring an open cup nest.
Christina Helmick building bird boxes.
Kristi Bradley measuring the tarsus of a white-throated sparrow
Katarina Scalercio with a color-banded painted bunting
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Erika Rocha checking a bird box.
Erika Rocha building bird boxes.
Victoria Garcia taking measurements on a bird
Destiny Gonzales returning mockingbird chicks back to the nest
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Bridget Hollowell joined graduate student Sierra Rodriguez to collect pollinator data across gradients of noise in New Mexico
Fledged Postdoctoral fellows
Todd Jones is an ornithologist who joined the Phillips Lab as a postdoc in 2021-2022. He is interested in fledgling behavior and whether responses to artificial light at night are plastic or evolved.
