
Gwyn Isenhouer	Kathryn Barto

Contragulations to Gwyn Isenhouer & Kathryn Barto

They have been awarded GRO fellowships ("Greater Research Opportunities") from the US EPA. These fellowships, which provide stipend, tuition, and research funds, are highly competitive. The figure is less than 10% funding rate--and so for two of them to come to Wright State in one year is outstanding--as, to be sure, are the students who have earned them.

Ms. Isenhouer's topic is "Expression of microbial genes involved in the reductive dehalogenation of PCE and its degradation products in a PCE-contaminated constructed wetland."

Ms. Barto's topic is "Allelopathy as an invasive mechanism for the plant Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard): Implications for restoration"

Biological Sciences

Name	Year	Advisor
Barto, Kathryn	2002	Don Cipollini
Research Interests: I am studying the effects of compounds produced by the invasive plant Garlic Mustard on symbiotic mycorrhizal fungi associated with the roots of other plants


Devlin, Shawn	2005	Yvonne Vadeboncoeur
Research Interests: I am interested in Carbon cycling in lakes, in particular, the role of Benthic Algal contributions to whole lake food webs, the role of bacteria in regulating benthic productivity and how the microbial loop integrates terrestrial Carbon sources and, in lake production in food webs.

Duell, David	2002	James Amon
Research Interests: I am interested in anaerobic degradation of chlorinated ethenes in wetlands.

Ferguson, Chad	2002	Dan Krane
Research Interests: My research centers on levels of genetic diversity in populations of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) and how these data may be predictive of the long-term sustainability of studied populations.

Heath, Jeremy	2007	John Stireman
Research Interests: I am studying the adaptive radiation of a group of gall midges, Asteromyia spp. (Cecidomyiidae: Diptera) on their goldenrod host plants. Complex interactions between these midges, host-plant defenses, parasitoid wasps, and a mutualistic fungus instrumental in gall formation may be spurring rapid evolutionary diversification. Understanding the ecology and evolution of this system will provide insight into the process of speciation and may aid in the sustainable control of invasive plants and agricultural pests.

Isenhouer, Gwyn	2003	Stephanie Smith
Research Interests: My proposed research is focused on the development of real-time reverse transcriptase PCR assays to monitor and quantitate the expression of microbial genes involved in the reductive dehalogenation of PCE and its degradation products in a PCE-contaminated constructed wetland

Milks, James	2004	James Runkle
Research Interests: I am interested in the processes involved in reforestation and impacts of reforestation on local ecosystem processes. I am also interested in general forest dynamics and the population and community ecology of mammals.

Moreno, Mauricio	2007	Thomas Rooney
Research Interests: I am interested in finding if there is a potential influence of white-tailed deer in the infection of roots of the genus Carex (Cyperaceae family) by AM fung.

Simpson, Karen	2006	Mike Blum
Research Interests: I am interested in the evolutionary and ecological effects of invasive species in aquatic ecosystems. I plan to use molecular data to find a genetic explanation for the success of a particular alien species and determine how this success affects other species in the non-native range.

Tumburu, Laxminath	2005	Michele Wheatly
Research Interests: Crustacean Physiology. Specifically, calcium ion regulation in crustaceans in response to environmental changes.

Department of Chemistry

Name	Year	Advisor
Bose, Sweta	2002	Steve Higgins
Research Interests: Mineral growth and dissolution kinetics in real time under constant chemical conditions. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) enables the observation of mineral surface features to the nanoscale level. I am studying one of the important naturally occurring mineral systems – the sulfate system. A project has been done on the dissolution of Celestite (SrSO4) and at present I have focused on studying another sulfate mineral – Barite (BaSO4). The aim is to study the growth processes and kinetics of the mineral in presence of an impurity- (CrO42-) which if present in the natural systems could be of real concern.

Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences

Name	Year	Advisor
Chatterjee, Sumantra	2004	Doyle Watts
Research Interests: Measuring evapotranspiration on a regional scale-a cost-effective approach

Name	Year	Advisor
Edward Council, III	2002	Dennis Darby, Old Dominion College and Steven Higgins (co-director)
Research Interests: My research centers on paleoclimatic interpretations based on the provenance of ice rafted detritus in Arctic Ocean sediments. It is hoped this data will support Pleistocene stratigraphic correlation in areas where other technique are ineffective.

Custer, Kevin	2006	Allen Burton
Research Interests: My research is looking at the effects of Nickel spiked sediments in situ on benthic communities, indigenous aquatic insects, and selected USEPA surrogate organisms. Nickel flux and sediment chemistries will also be examined to look at fate and effects of Nickel over time in situ. These compartments will help determine the toxicity and bioavailability of Nickel to these selected groups organisms.


Kirandeep Dhami	2007
Research Interests:

Guin, Arijit	2002	Robert Ritzi
Research Interests: The goal of my research is to quantify the three-dimensional interconnectivity of highly permeable open-framework gravel zones within braided river deposits using percolation theory.

Kapo, Katherine	2004	Allen Burton
Research Interests: Watershed ecology and the development and use of various GIS spatial analysis techniques in quantitative environmental risk assessments.


Powell, Christina	2005	Abinash Agrawal
Research Interests: My research interests are in pollution control. My background is in atmospheric sciences but I am hoping to do research in groundwater.

Ramanathan, Ramya	2003	Robert Ritzi
Research Interests: My research interests include modeling reactive solute tranport using stochastic as well numerical approaches. Currently, I am using geometric and geostatistical approaches linking stratal architecture to plume spreading.

Sarah Tritschler	2007
Research Interests: My research interests include studying the biogeochemistry of constructed wetlands for the purpose of groundwater contamination remediation.

Department of Phamacology and Toxicology

Name	Year	Advisor
Kannanayakal, Thomas	2003	James McDougal
Research Interests: My research interest is to understand expression of Biomarkers in response to environmental stress using Bioinformatics tools

Salisbury, Richard	2004	Courtney Sulentic
Research Interests: Using molecular tools to understand and define environmentally mediated immune suppression

Department of Physics

Name	Year	Advisor
Smigelski, Jeffrey	2003	Sarah Tebbens
Research Interests: