Lake Erie Center
: Graduate Fellows

JoAnn Banda
Kris Barnswell
Betsy Bodamer Scarboro
Todd Crail
Kristen DeVanna
Colleen Gorey
Amanda Haponski
Jhonatan Sepulveda Villet

JoAnn Banda, Great Lakes Genetics Lab
Email: jo.banda@utoledo.edu
JoAnn's Research
CV - 2009

I became interested in the Great Lakes while an undergraduate at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) in Bowling Green, Ohio, where I received my Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science.  During a summer internship with United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Sandusky, Ohio, I realized I would like to work with fish.  At USGS I spent time both on Lake Erie trawling and in the laboratory examining cormorant and perch stomachs.  I also conducted an independent study to determine the best method for estimating ages of yellow perch of known age using anal and dorsal fin spines, otoliths, and scales.   I was introduced to genetics and my current research while participating in the National Science Foundation Research Experience for undergraduates in Dr. Carol Stepien’s Great Lakes Genetics Laboratory.  My Master’s research is looking at the temporal and spatial genetic patterns among Lake Erie Walleye spawning groups.  I extract DNA from a small piece of fin, amplify segments of nuclear DNA called microsatellite loci using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and use genetic software to analyze allele frequencies and detect patterns. 

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Kris Barnswell, Environmental Remediation
Email: kristopher.barnswell2@utoledo.edu
Kris's Research
CV - 2009

My research interests center on using plants to clean up and restore contaminated sites, such as brownfields and landfills.  I received a B.S. in Environmental Sciences in 2003 and a M.S. in Ecology in 2005, both from the University of Toledo.  My master thesis focused on observing the development of a plant community on an inactive landfill that is located in northwest Ohio.  For many years the Ohio EPA wanted to remove the vegetation that had become established on the landfill to construct a modern day final cover.  However, after presenting my data to them, they are now considering the use of a vegetative cover, called an evapotranspiration (ET) cover, for the final closure of the landfill.  An ET cover will function similarly to the modern day cover, but has the benefits of lower construction costs, preservation of habitat, and long-term sustainability.  My doctoral research involves selecting the appropriate soil and plant species for this ET cover, and monitoring the water balance of constructed covers for extended time periods.  I am very excited to be a part of the GK-12 program and I hope to make positive impacts in both the students’ and teachers’ lives.  

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Betsy Bodamer Scarboro, Water Quality
Email: betsy.bodamer@utoledo.edu
Betsy's Research
CV - 2009

My research interests and experiences in aquatic ecology cover a wide spectrum.  I received my BS in Biology from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. While there, I completed two phosphorus budgets on nearby natural lakes for the EPA and a local watershed organization, and assisted with data collection for a long term Yellow-spotted salamander study. I also completed a senior thesis, looking at veliger (zebra mussel larva) mortality and settlement patterns in a glacial lake.   After graduation, I came to the University of Toledo DES-LEC for my Masters, where I studied how wetlands effect the downstream dispersal of zebra mussels. 

After completion of my Masters in December 2007, I decided to continue on for my PhD with Dr. Thomas Bridgeman, and switched the focus of my research to Great Lakes Ecology and Hypoxia. My dissertation is examining how Lake Erie hypoxia (a.k.a. the “dead zone”) affects (physiologically and behaviorally) benthic foraging fish (e.g. Yellow Perch) and benthic dwelling invertebrates (e.g. Hexagenia mayfly larvae). 

While in college, I volunteered at a local Forest Ecology Camp and worked with middle school students, teaching and sharing with them the importance of woodland areas and aquatic ecosystems.  I found this very rewarding, as well as fun, and have since made it a goal to continue to work with younger secondary school children to give them hands on experience in ecology. 

Since arriving at the University of Toledo in 2005, I have been very active in the lab, the department of environmental sciences, and the Lake Erie Center.  I have mentored three undergraduates who assisted me, ran their own projects, and gained valuable research experience in the lab. I have also attended local middle and high school career days, speaking to children about opportunities in ecology and biological sciences. 

I am very excited to be involved with the GK-12 program and having the opportunity to share, and hopefully, spread my interest and knowledge of not just aquatic ecosystems, but nature in general to high school students. Educating future generations is imperative to the preservation our environment. 

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Todd Crail, Invasive Modeling/Aquatic Ecology
Email: todd.crail@utoledo.edu
Todd's Research
CV - 2009

I came to graduate school on a winding path that included eight years working in corporate Information Technologies departments and two years running my own small business, a tropical fish and aquarium store.  During this time, I developed a passion for local and regional natural history, spending every free moment examining the native fish, mussels and plants of our area. I began to interpret this knowledge to the community through talks and aquaria at schools, walks at The Nature Conservancy's Kitty Todd Preserve, and stream outings sponsored by the North American Native Fishes Association (of which I was a Board Member).  Through this exposure, I met Dr. Hans Gottgens of the UT Department of Environmental Sciences, who invited me to join the graduate program, and hone this knowledge into the skills of a blossoming ecological scientist.   

My doctoral research interests involve assemblage, niche and interspecific interactions in North American lotic aquatic systems (specifically fish and Unionid mussels), with specific regard to exotic introductions and land use influences on those communities. I also have a keen interest in aquatic zoogeography, in particular, using phylogeography to reconstruct Pleistocene / Holocene refugia and range recovery in glaciated landscapes.   

I have also kept a foot in more applied projects that are extensions of my masters work.  My masters project examined the response of fish community to in-channel plant colonization in agricultural ditches.  From that work, I am involved in a partnership with the Heidelberg College National Center for Water Quality Research on the Honey Creek Targeted Watershed Program funded by US EPA, which will examine fish and invertebrate community response and recovery over time from "dip-out" maintenance in agricultural ditches.  I am also involved in a project in partnership with the Village of Ottawa Hills, TMACOG and BGSU on the Secor Dam decommissioning, where we are examing fish and Unionid community above and below the dam before removal, and now after. 

My passions have continued into the present... I am the founding member and president of the Toledo Chapter of Wild Ones, a national organization that promotes the use of native plants as a landscaping alternative.  I have  worked to promote the idea of residential rainwater gardens for the last six years and have used my photography and web techonolgies skills to intepret these ideas and natural beauty of our region through my website, found at http://www.farmertodd.com. 

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Kristen DeVanna, Benthic Ecology
Email: kristen.devanna@utoledo.edu
Kristen's Research
CV - 2009

I have been active in the science community since my undergraduate degree and I hope to continue the same level of productivity throughout graduate school and my future career. During my junior year of college I began an aquatic ecology research internship through Ohio Wesleyan University. I conducted my own research project studying how pesticide run-off affects aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem processes. After I graduated from Ohio Wesleyan, I spent the summer as a research technician at the Kellogg Biological Field Station working on a 190-mesocosm experiment. It was a very valuable experience and reaffirmed my love for aquatic research and science in general and led me to apply to graduate school.

I am currently interested in the ecological interactions between an important native species in the Great Lakes, burrowing mayflies (Hexagenia limbata and H. rigida), and invasive zebra and quagga mussels (Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis respectively). My dissertation work builds on my master’s degree, for which I studied the interactions between Dreissena and Hexagenia, which are an important food web component in many temperate lakes. I found that in oxygenated waters, Hexagenia prefer habitats with 50-100% spatial coverage of Dreissena. Therefore, I plan to determine the food web consequences of this observed relationship during both high and low oxygen conditions for my dissertation. Specifically, I will determine whether Hexagenia derive protection from fish predation in Dreissena clusters and if short periods of hypoxia, which often develop in Lake Erie and other productive lakes, interfere with this relationship and force Hexagenia out of Dreissena-cluster habitat to seek well-oxygenated waters. If Dreissena protect Hexagenia from fish predation, I will examine the implications to the food web and the flow of benthic energy (Hexagenia) to fish.

I have become active in my lab and The University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center since I arrived here in 2004. I have mentored research experience for undergraduate student for three summers as well as other high school and undergraduate students interested in aquatic research.  I have been a volunteer for the western Lake Erie monitoring program taking basic limnological measurements in Maumee Bay and western Lake Erie, have spoken at local high school career days about opportunities in ecology, and have also been active in the Lake Erie Center’s public lecture series. I am very excited about being a graduate fellow in the GK-12 program and having the opportunity to communicate my love of science and the environment to current high school students.

One of my future goals is to conduct research that will make a difference in the field of freshwater aquatic ecology and to become involved in public outreach programs that teach the public about the economic, environmental, and societal importance of healthy freshwater ecosystems. I think that being a fellow in the GK-12 program will give me many of the skills I need to achieve these goals. I want to put my knowledge to work in solving current environmental problems from both a technical and public education standpoint. I believe that the overall importance of freshwater ecosystems is often overlooked. Many freshwater systems are imperiled, and sound research is needed to halt their decline. I intend to finish graduate school not only very educated in the field of ecology and having published meaningful research, but as a well-rounded individual. 

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Colleen Gorey, Engineering
Email: cgorey50@yahoo.com
CV - 2009

I received a B.S. in Bioengineering in 2006 and a M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2008, both from the University of Toledo. I completed my Master’s under the guidance of Dr. Isabel Escobar in Chemical Engineering and Dr. Cyndee Gruden in Civil Engineering. They will continue to be my advisors through my Ph.D program.

Part of my undergraduate degree requirements was the completion of three co-op experiences. Mine were completed at the Pfizer Global Research and Development facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I worked in Drug Discovery and worked with Ultra High Throughput Screening Systems (UHTSS). The equipment was capable of dispensing volumes in the low micro- and high nano- liter  range. This capability was valuable as low dispensing volumes require less reagents, so more screening could be done in less time for less money.

My Master’s thesis was about the modification of cellulose acetate ultrafiltration membranes with temperature-sensitive polymer films. The idea was to create a dynamic surface on the membrane that reduces biofouling. My thesis title was “Grafting of Stimuli-Responsive Polymer Films to Ultrafiltration Membranes.”

I am currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Chemical Engineering program by doing more research in membrane modification. My research involves post-synthesis modification of water filtration membranes. Further research will be done on placing sensors on the polymer films that will be able to detect micro-organisms. The current technology involves using antibodies which are selective to specific micro-organisms. As antibodies are relatively expensive and difficult to quantify, were are looking into other kinds of sensors. One idea that has manifested in molecularly imprinted polymers (or MIPs). They are supposed to be easy to make and inexpensive.

I hope to bring a different perspective into the classroom for the GK-12 project. Most students only learn theory and do not know how it applies to the real world. Engineers take basic science and make useful technology that makes everyday life possible. I hope to be able to connect the dots and make science more relevent and interesting.

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Amanda Haponski, Great Lakes Genetics Lab
Email: amanda.haponski@utoledo.edu
Amanda's Research
CV - 2009

I received my master’s degree from the University of Toledo in December of 2007 and decided to continue on for my Ph.D. in Carol Stepien’s lab.  My thesis focused on a morphologic, genetic, and biogeographic comparison of two known subspecies of the Greenside Darter (Etheostoma blennioides Rafinesque, 1819). I used a variety of morphological characters (i.e. scale counts) and molecular data to determine if these two subspecies should really be considered as subspecies.  Currently, I am finishing up a study looking at the genetic variation of the rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) in the Lake Erie Region.  For this project I am working with a local high school teacher Mr. Tim Bollin.  My dissertation research will focus on two important commercial fishery species walleye (Sander vitreus) and yellow perch (Perca flavescens).  I will be using archived scale samples to compare their genetic variation over the past 50 years in the Great Lakes.  I will also be looking at the two genuses and comparing morphological characters and molecular data to determine the systematic relationships among the species. 

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Jhonatan Sepulveda Villet, Great Lakes Genetics Lab
Email: osepulv@utnet.utoledo.edu
Jhonatan's Research
CV - 2009
I received my B.S. in Aquacultural Engineering from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, and a M.S. in Biology from Central Michigan University. My previous academic research has included Nutritional efficiency on freshwater crustaceans, developmental biology of marine shrimp, and proteomic research. An aquatic enthusiast at heart, I joined the Lake Erie Center to focus on yellow perch and percid population genetics and stock assessments for the Great Lakes, particularly Lake Erie and its tributaries. My interests include genome to proteome databases/mapping, applied genomics, QTL determination in animal species of commercial relevance and aquacultural research. I enjoy most outdoors activities, including backpacking, canoeing, and steelhead/salmon flyfishing.

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