Senner and Stager Lab Gathering.
(L:R) Julian Garcia-Walther, Feipeng Huang, Rozy Bathrick, Nathan Senner, Lauren Puleo, Maria Stager, Maina Handmaker, and Cory Elowe. (Not pictured: Jenny Linscott and Fernando Faria)
(L:R) Julian Garcia-Walther, Feipeng Huang, Rozy Bathrick, Nathan Senner, Lauren Puleo, Maria Stager, Maina Handmaker, and Cory Elowe. (Not pictured: Jenny Linscott and Fernando Faria)
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Nathan Senner, Associate Professor
Nathan started studying birds at the age of 14. After earning a B.A. from Carleton College, he was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to follow Hudsonian Godwits on their annual migration from the Arctic to the southern tip of South America and back. He continued this research while pursuing his PhD at Cornell University with Dr. John Fitzpatrick. From there, he traveled across the Atlantic for a postdoc with Dr. Theunis Piersma at the University of Groningen studying the flexibility of Black-tailed Godwit annual cycles. Following that, he was a postdoc at the University of Montana with Dr. Zachary Cheviron investigating the population dynamics of high-elevation deer mice. In his free time, Nathan trains with his running partner, Oliver (three-time canine champion of the Snow Joke Half Marathon and inarguably Montana's fastest dog). |
PostDocs and Graduate Students:
Brett Addis, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Brett received her B.A. from Whitman College in Biology-Environmental Studies. After working as a field technician in southeastern Alaska and the Mojave Desert, Brett returned to her hometown of Missoula, Montana to pursue her M.S. and PhD with Winsor Lowe at the University of Montana. Her PhD research focused on understanding the drivers and consequences of variation in dispersal distance in the spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. Brett continued amphibian population ecology research as a postdoc at the University of Wyoming, where she estimated occupancy trends for six amphibian species of conservation concern across Wyoming and northern Colorado. Making the leap from amphibians to mammals, Brett is excited to join the Senner lab to investigate the effects of botfly infection on deer mouse population dynamics along an elevational gradient in the Rockies.
Brett received her B.A. from Whitman College in Biology-Environmental Studies. After working as a field technician in southeastern Alaska and the Mojave Desert, Brett returned to her hometown of Missoula, Montana to pursue her M.S. and PhD with Winsor Lowe at the University of Montana. Her PhD research focused on understanding the drivers and consequences of variation in dispersal distance in the spring salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. Brett continued amphibian population ecology research as a postdoc at the University of Wyoming, where she estimated occupancy trends for six amphibian species of conservation concern across Wyoming and northern Colorado. Making the leap from amphibians to mammals, Brett is excited to join the Senner lab to investigate the effects of botfly infection on deer mouse population dynamics along an elevational gradient in the Rockies.
Rozy Bathrick, PhD Student
Rozy hails from the foggy coast of central California, where she graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating, Rozy worked as an assistant to field ecology courses for undergraduate students and as a project leader on a seabird colony for Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge. For her PhD research, Rozy is tracking the fall migration of shorebird species in three genera: Pluvialis (golden-plovers), Limnodromus (dowitchers), and Tringa (yellowlegs). Different breeding latitudes, migratory routes, stopover strategies, and wintering destinations influence the success of these vulnerable populations, and Rozy hopes to understand some of these complex distinctions as well as inform conservation efforts.
Rozy hails from the foggy coast of central California, where she graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. After graduating, Rozy worked as an assistant to field ecology courses for undergraduate students and as a project leader on a seabird colony for Oikonos Ecosystem Knowledge. For her PhD research, Rozy is tracking the fall migration of shorebird species in three genera: Pluvialis (golden-plovers), Limnodromus (dowitchers), and Tringa (yellowlegs). Different breeding latitudes, migratory routes, stopover strategies, and wintering destinations influence the success of these vulnerable populations, and Rozy hopes to understand some of these complex distinctions as well as inform conservation efforts.
Paul Dougherty, Post-Doctoral Fellow
Paul received his B.A. in Biology and Classics from Colby College and his PhD from the University of Wyoming, where he worked with Matt Carling. His graduate work explored how adaptive variation in molting strategies contributes to reproductive isolation and speciation in birds. He also studied how ongoing shifts in the North American monsoon are influencing bird populations that have evolved to molt in the monsoonal region. Having come to see molt as the most interesting thing that birds do, he is now studying the environmental and genetic regulatory mechanisms of molt, using Lazuli Buntings as a model. He hopes that this research will enable us to begin incorporating molt into management strategies.
Paul is supported by an NSF Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.
Check out Paul's personal webpage!
Paul received his B.A. in Biology and Classics from Colby College and his PhD from the University of Wyoming, where he worked with Matt Carling. His graduate work explored how adaptive variation in molting strategies contributes to reproductive isolation and speciation in birds. He also studied how ongoing shifts in the North American monsoon are influencing bird populations that have evolved to molt in the monsoonal region. Having come to see molt as the most interesting thing that birds do, he is now studying the environmental and genetic regulatory mechanisms of molt, using Lazuli Buntings as a model. He hopes that this research will enable us to begin incorporating molt into management strategies.
Paul is supported by an NSF Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Biology.
Check out Paul's personal webpage!
Feipeng Huang, MSc Student
Feipeng was born and raised in eastern China along the coast of the Yellow Sea. There he watched shorebirds use the region's shrinking wetlands and found his passion for birds and conservation. He has also led citizen-based raptor migration counts in southwest China and helped monitor the by-catch mortality of shorebirds across China’s coast. In 2022, Feipeng received his B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis. For his MSc. research, he hopes to understand how Hudsonian Godwit chicks respond to a dynamic landscape of resource availability and predation risk under environmental change.
Feipeng was born and raised in eastern China along the coast of the Yellow Sea. There he watched shorebirds use the region's shrinking wetlands and found his passion for birds and conservation. He has also led citizen-based raptor migration counts in southwest China and helped monitor the by-catch mortality of shorebirds across China’s coast. In 2022, Feipeng received his B.S. in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology from UC Davis. For his MSc. research, he hopes to understand how Hudsonian Godwit chicks respond to a dynamic landscape of resource availability and predation risk under environmental change.
Laura Torezan, PhD student
Laura earned her B.S. in Biology from the Universidade Estadual de Londrina, in southern Brazil. While an undergraduate, she was also an intern and later on a consultant at the Shorebird Conservation Program at SAVE Brasil, a Brazilian conservation NGO. Laura has a MSc. in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation from the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, where she conducted research on the influence of urbanization on mangrove bird diversity. In parallel to her main MSc. research, she also conducted an assessment of shorebird habitat loss in Brazil. For her PhD research, she hopes to understand what drives Willet and Whimbrel population dynamics throughout their annual cycles.
Check out Laura's ResearchGate Profile and a writeup of her research by the Rufford Foundation!
Laura earned her B.S. in Biology from the Universidade Estadual de Londrina, in southern Brazil. While an undergraduate, she was also an intern and later on a consultant at the Shorebird Conservation Program at SAVE Brasil, a Brazilian conservation NGO. Laura has a MSc. in Ecology and Biodiversity Conservation from the Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, where she conducted research on the influence of urbanization on mangrove bird diversity. In parallel to her main MSc. research, she also conducted an assessment of shorebird habitat loss in Brazil. For her PhD research, she hopes to understand what drives Willet and Whimbrel population dynamics throughout their annual cycles.
Check out Laura's ResearchGate Profile and a writeup of her research by the Rufford Foundation!
Lab Graduates:
- Kayla Davis, Postdoc 2026, now a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Florida
- Matt Duggan, BSc 2022 from the University of South Carolina, now a PhD student at Cornell University.
- Fernando Faria, PhD 2023 from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, now postdoc at Federal University of Rio Grande.
- Julián Garía-Walther, PhD 2025 from UMass Amherst, now director of the Bird Laboratory at Pronatura Noroeste.
- Maina Handmaker, PhD 2026 from UMass Amherst, now senior migration ecologist at the National Audubon Society.
- Jennifer Linscott, PhD 2025 from UMass Amherst, now postdoc at the University of South Carolina
- Sara Padula, BSc 2022 from the University of South Carolina, now a PhD Student at the University of Colorado, Boulder
- Teresa Pegan, Postdoc 2024-2026, now an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Maggie Pelton, BSc 2022 from the University of South Carolina, now a researcher at the Baruch Marine Institute
- Lauren Puleo, MSc 2024 from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now an environmental educator in Fairbanks, AK.
- Eden Smith, BSc 2024, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, now a biological researcher in Arcata, CA.
- Rose Swift, PhD 2018 from Cornell University, coadvised with Amanda Rodewald, now a researcher with USGS
- Mo Verhoeven, PhD 2020 from the University of Groningen, coadvised with Theunis Piersma, now a researcher at RSPB
- Luke Wilde, MSc 2021 from the University of South Carolina, now a PhD student at the University of Wyoming
Collaborators:
- Juliana Bosi de Almeida, Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network
- Zachary Cheviron, University of Montana
- Jesse Conklin, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
- Scott Edwards, Harvard University
- Autumn-Lynn Harrison, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center
- Jim Johnson, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Alan Kneidel, Manomet Conservation Sciences
- Juan Navedo, Universidad Austral de Chile
- Peter Paton, University or Rhode Island
- Roberta Rodrigues, SAVE Brasil
- Dan Ruthrauff, Manomet Conservation Sciences
- Maria Stager, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Jonathan Velotta, University of Denver