Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU)
2023
Brian Ballantyne
Mentor: Chad Johnson
Research Project: Using CAP-LTER’s arthropod dataset to examine urban evolution within a socio-ecological framework
Mariah Beltran
Mentors: Dan Childers and Kelli Larson
Research Project: Tres Rios for Two (summer) and Examining the Opportunities, Constraints, and Contexts for Human-Wildlife Coexistence (academic year)
Arshonne Cazares
Mentors: Michelle Hale and Michele Clark
Research Project: Diversifying Visions of the Future with Rural and Urban Indigenous Communities
Zoe Gentry
Mentors: Nancy Grimm and Liliana Caughman
Research Project: River Futures: Participatory visioning for an urban river
Carter Henry
Mentor: Kelli Larson
Research Project: Examining the Opportunities, Constraints, and Contexts for Human-Wildlife Coexistence (academic year)
David Nguyen
Mentor: Dan Childers
Research Project: Tres Rios for Two
Nadia Upah
Mentor: Pierre Deviche
Research Project: Birds in a Warming World: An Integrated Physiological Perspective
2022
Zoe Gentry
Mentor: Nancy Grimm
Research Project: Visions of the Rio Salado: Planning participatory visioning for an urban river
Maddelyn Gibson
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research Project: Color me sexy: does ornate coloration predict health state in an invasive urban parrot species?
Savage Cree Hess
Mentor: Michelle Hale
Research Project: Diversifying visions of the future of the Rio Salado – A community-centered approach to Rio Reimagined
Garrett Storey
Mentor: Pierre Herckes
Research Project: Occurrence and fate of emerging contaminants in the Tres Rios Wetlands
2021
Hasti Asrari
Mentor: Chad Johnson
Research Project: The effects of urbanization on the gut microbiome of an urban arthropod pest: An investigation into the gut of western black
widow spiders across a gradient of urbanization
Dayanara Avilez, Akilah Davitt, and Janelle Siefert
Mentors: Kelli Larson and Jeff Brown
Research Project: Exploring Human-Nature Interactions in the Phoenix Area Social Survey (PASS) Neighborhoods
Dean Drake
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research Project:Does food quality explain urban-rural variation in finch coloration and health?
Olivia Nguyen
Mentor: Jesse Lewis
Research Project: Comparing wildlife occupancy and AZGFD public reporting data across the gradient of urbanization during the Covid-19 pandemic
Brian Sehner
Mentor: Amy Frazier and Billie L. Turner II
Research Project: Quantifying the spatial connectivity of surface urban heat island intensity and thermal refuges in the Phoenix metropolitan area
2020
Kerrala Chandran
Mentor: Chingwen Cheng
Research Project: UEI hydrologic performance evaluation
Dave DeBacker
Mentor: Stephen Elser
Research Project: The Future of Urban Ecosystem Services
Kathryn DePinto
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research Project: Health and nutrition in the city: Testing principles of self-medication and personalized nutrition in urban and rural birds
Matt Millado
Mentor: Stephen Elser
Research Project: The Future of Urban Ecosystem Services
Finnley Rickman
Mentor: Marta Berbés-Blázquez
Research Project: The future of urban ecosystem services
2019
Ryan Faust
Mentor: Jesse Lewis
Research Project: The distribution, diversity, and abundance of scorpions in relation to urbanization and landscape characteristics across the CAP LTER study area
Melissa Fleeger
Mentor: Kelli Larson
Research Project: Residents’ Attitudes toward Bees in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona
Sarah Lindley
Mentor: Chad Johnson
Research Project: The Effect of Urban Heat Island Temperatures on Microhabitat Preference in Black Widow Spiders
Jenna Rosales
Mentor: Jenni Vanos
Research Project: Observing the solar radiation and heat protection factors of tree shade: A novel comparative assessment of desert trees
2018
Keaton Coker
Mentor: Chad Johnson
Research Project: Black Widows on an Urban Heat Island: Using Hormones and Behavior to Understand Global Change
Jessica Dwyer
Mentor: Jesse Lewis
Research Project: The effects of urbanization on species composition and activity patterns of the bat community across the Phoenix Valley
Caitlin Nordheim
Mentor: Heather Bateman
Research Project: Comparison of riparian herpetofauna along urban and wildland streams
Chelsea Stratton
Mentor: Fabio Suzart de Albuquerque
Research Project: Energy, water and habitat diversity as predictors of bird diversity in urban areas
2017
Caitlin Gray
Mentor: Fabio Suzart de Albuquerque
Research Project: Environmental drivers of phylogenetic diversity of bird species in riparian areas.
Claire Moen
Mentor: Chad Johnson
Research Project: Black Widows On An Urban Heat Island: Using Genes, Physiology And Behavior To Understand Global Change.
Robert Moakley
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research Project: Where sleep meets sex in the city: links between bird breeding and beauty sleep
David Nardelli
Mentors: Nancy Grimm, Lauren McPhillips, and Monica Palta
Research Project: Nutrient loading and its effects in water-supply canals and stormwater outfalls in Phoenix, AZ
2016
Devon Allred
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research Project: Urban night-lighting and pace-of-life: can urban birds buy back time?
Maria Eller
Mentor: Erin Redman
Research Project: Ecology Explorers Program
Nikita Kowal
Mentor: Becky Ball
Research Project: Urbanization and N-Deposition and Microbial Community-Level Physiological Profiles
Michelle Poletti
Mentor: Ariane Middel
Research Project: Impact of interior temperatures of shaded and unshaded vehicles on children’s health – A case study in Phoenix, AZ
Brandon Ramirez
Mentor: David Iwaniec
Research Project: Developing data visualization and decision-making tools for CAP LTER Sustainable Future Scenarios
Isabella Tapia
Mentor: Charles Redman
Research Project: Infrastructural Response to Extreme Events in
Phoenix, AZ
Javier Urcuyo
Mentor: Chad Johnson
Research Project: Urban heat islands and urban arthropod biodiversity
2015
Jessica Hoffman
Mentor: Kelli Larson
Research project: Yard creatures: Management, perception, and reality
Bridget Harding
Mentor: Dan Allen
Research project: Long-term analysis of biodiversity patterns, land-use, and climate anomalies on urban community structure
Sky Arnett-Romero
Mentor: Dan Allen
Research project: Long-term analysis of biodiversity patterns, land-use, and climate anomalies on urban community structure
2014
Kelly Bergin
Mentor: Becky Ball
Research project: Impacts of altered precipitation on aboveground-belowground interactions
Soukaina Kouteib
Mentor: Pierre Deviche
Research project: Relationships between urbanization and immunity
Caitlin Holmes
Mentor: Sharon Hall
Research project: Soil properties in residential landscapes
Evan Kuras
Mentor: David Hondula
Research project: Personal monitoring for smarter heat-health interventions in Central Arizona
Meghan Cook
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research project: Cognition in the city: Problem-solving in a foraging context as a function of urbanization in house finches
Pierce Hutton
Mentor: Kevin McGraw
Research project: Cognition in the city: Problem-solving in a foraging context as a function of urbanization in house finches
Jessica Jia
Mentors: Elizabeth Wentz and Kelli Larson
Research project: A comparative analysis of the water consumption and cost of xeric vs. mesic landscaped single family residential properties in Tempe
2013
Jessica Alvarez Guevara
Mentors: Becky Ball and Mitch Pavao-Zuckerman
Research project: Moss nutrient plasticity over variations in soil resource availability in desert soils
Beau Rudd
Mentor: Heather Bateman
Research project: Effects of multi-use recreational trails on reptiles in the Phoenix mountain parks
Dakota Tallman
Mentor: Dan Childers
Research project: Understanding the importance of open water processes to the provision of ecosystem services in a constructed wastewater treatment wetland ecosystem
Samuel Lane
Mentor: Pierre Deviche
Research project: Bird song and the brain: Behavioral and neuroanatomical adaptations of northern mockingbirds to urbanization
Amanda Wolf
Mentors: Monica Palta and Nancy Grimm
Research project: Ecosystem services and trade-offs mediated by urban water bodies for homeless populations in Phoenix
Billy Smith
Mentor: Kerry Smith
Research project: Does water conservation compromise the reliability (and sustainability) of water systems?
Alyssa McAlister
Mentors: Amber Wutich and Alex Brewis
Research project: Human health in a warming world: Cultural models of climate change and disease