the Biology Department
at Georgia Southern University for one year. She is now a candidate for
the doctoral degree at the University
of Cincinnati where she is studying a locally endangered shrub. Thesis
Link. Contact.back to CV; back to Home Page
Prospective Graduate Students go here
Jessica Brzyski, MSc 2005. Jessica is from
the Buffalo, NY area and obtained her B.S. in environmental forest biology
from SUNY-ESF in Syracuse, NY. Jess studied "Beaver (Castor canadensis)
impacts on herbaceous and woody vegetation in southeastern Georgia."
She obtained funding from Sigma Xi and various sources at Georgia Southern
University as well as being a teaching assistant. Upon graduating in 2005,
Jess worked as a laboratory instructor in the Biology Department
at Georgia Southern University for one year. She is now a candidate for
the doctoral degree at the University
of Cincinnati where she is studying a locally endangered shrub. Thesis
Link. Contact.
Helen Loizi, MSc 2004. Helen conducted biological
assays with male African elephants using compounds from follicular phase
urine at the Riddle's Elephant Sanctuary in Arkansas. Helen also conducted
field studies at Addo Elephant Natio
nal Park examining
the development of chemotactile behaviors in male and female elephants.
Helen completed her thesis in 2004 (available as pdf through the Henderson
Library, Thesis
link). Contact.
Kathryn Bagley, MSc 2004. Katie was supported
on the grant from May 2003 - May 2004. Ms. Bagley conducted biological assays
with captive elephants at Riddle's Elephant Sanctuary with the assistance
of three undergraduate students and at Jacksonville Zoo, Knoxville Zoo,
Lion Country Safari, Miami MetroZoo and North Carolina Zoo with the aid
of Lauren Stanley. Ms. Bagley studied elephants at AENP from September to
December 2003 and was assisted again by undergr
aduate student
Lauren Stanley. This was the first time either of them had traveled outside
of the USA. Both students worked closely with the park personnel. Ms. Bagley
completed her MSc degree in December 2004 and was employed as a High School
science teacher in Georgia. She is employed at Zoo Atlanta. A paper in Animal
Behaviour was published in 2006 emanating
from her thesis research. Thesis
link. To reach Katie, Contact
Christen Merte, MSc 2006. Ms. Merte examined
the development of behaviors in female African elephants across time using
a longitudinal technique in additio
n to a cross sectional
sampling method. She also is compared investigative behavior of male and
female elephants of each age class as they entered a water hole. Ms. Merte
completed her fieldwork at Addo Elephant National Par in July 2005 and presented
a talk at a zoological Congress
in Grahamstown, South Africa. Ms. Merte graduated in the spring 2006. Thesis
link. To reach Christen, Contact.
Dhaval Vyas, MSc 2006. Mr. Vyas completed
a semester of coursework in the spring 2004 and journeyed to Tanzania in
July. He has been conducting research on elephant behavior and bird/mammal
biodiversity at a waterhole on the Ndarakwai
Ranch, owned and operated by Mr. Peter Jones. This study is permitted
through T
AWIRI/COSTECH. Mr. Vyas will conclude
his study in June 2005 after assisting in the training of new graduate student
Erek Napora. Mr. Vyas graduated in the summer 2006. Thesis
link. To reach Dhaval, Contact.
Jordana Meyer, MSc 2006. Ms. Meyer entered
Georgia Southern in the fall semester 2004. She has completed one year of
coursework, received fiscal awards from the Academic Excellence and Graduate
Student funds at Georgia Southern. She conducted behavioral studies at AENP
from May-October 2005, examining the developmental relationship between
play and chemical communication. She also performed a study with captive
female African elephants in North America
where she studied
how behavior changes with hormonal status. Ms. Meyer graduated in December
2006 and now collaborates with our team on a related project (examining
fecal hormone levels and behavior in African elephants) in AENP. Thesis
link. To reach Jordie, Contact.
Erek Napora, MSc 2007. Mr. Napora entered Georgia Southern in the spring semester 2005. He conducted a study on developmental aspects of chemosensory behavior in African elephants and on elephant damage to woody vegetation on Ndarakwai Ranch, Tanzania from May 2005 to July 2006. Erek presented some of his research findings at the 2006 Animal Behavior Society meeting in Snowbird, Utah. Mr. Napora graduated in the spring 2007 and is now living in northeastern Tennessee. Contact. His MS thesis is available online.
Stacie Castelda, Master of Science candidate, 2008. Stacie is from Iowa and graduated from Luther College. She spent 2006-7 in Tanzania observing the responses of African elephants to putative pheromone candidates. In addition, she continued to track elephant damage to the woody vegetation on Ndarakwai Ranch as well as monitoring elephant damage to local farm fields. Stacie plans to graduate in spring 2008. Contact.
Russell Blogg, Master of Science candidate,
2008. Russ graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University and was a scholarship
swimmer. He is examining the chemosensory development of African elephants
in the 10-20 year age class at Addo Elephant National Park in South Africa.
He also has collected data on 
known males before,
during and after bouts of musth. Russ plans to present some of his findings
at the IEF meeting in Orlando in 2007. He should graduate in spring 2008
and shortly thereafter will be married! Read an article by Russ in the IWU
magazine about his adventures
in Addo. Contact.
Rhea Esposito, Master of Science candidate,
2008. Rhea is from Boulder, Colorado and graduated from Oberlin College.
She has published on Antarctic diatoms. Rhea is examining chemosensory and
social behavior at the family level with elephants in AENP. She also will
use her computer skills to examin
e temporal patterns
in elephant behavior over the 4+ years of data that we have acquired at
AENP. Rhea plans to graduate in spring 2008. Contact.
Nabil Nasseri, Master of Science candidate,
2009. Nabil graduated from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) with
a B.S. in Biology. He joined our program in 2006. Nabil is studying the
responses of African elephants to potential deterrent compounds in comparison
to natural elephant chemo-signals. In addition, he is determining the impact
of elephant damage on the herpetofauna at Ndarakwai Ranch. Nabil plans to
graduate in the spring term 2009.
Contact.
Rebekah Hoffmeier, Master of Science candidate, 2010. Bekah graduated from Michigan State University with a B.S. in Zoology, Animal Behavior. Bekah has studied olive baboons in Kenya and chacma baboons in Botswana. She also has worked with Belding's ground squirrels and hyenas. Bekah's interests are in conservation behavior to understand better and to reduce human-wildlife conflict. She will be working at our Tanzanian study site on human-elephant conflict issues. Contact.
Jennifer Young Harper, MSc 2001. Jenny conducted
her research on "An investigation of captive Florida manatee (Trichechus
manatus latirostris) behavior and social interactions." After completing
her degree, Jenny Young was married and entered a doctoral program. To date,
we have published on social interac
tions in captive female
manatees. Jenny completed her PhD at the University of Florida studying
manatee eye anatomy. She is now an Assistant Professor of Biology at Coastal Georgia Community
College.
Chifuyu Horikoshi Beckett, MSc 2004.Chifuyu
has a B.S. in Biology from Eastern Oregon University and a B.S. Wildlife
Resources from the University of Idaho. She has a vast amount of experience
with wild and domestic animals as well as extensive laboratory skills. Chifuyu
studied the relationship between
hormones and behavior
(in prep) as well as activity patterns
and spatial use in captive female manatees at Homosassa Springs Wildlife
State Park. After completing her thesis Chifuyu was married and worked at
Lion Country Safari. She plans to pursue a doctoral degree studying cheetahs.
Contact
Ryan Berger, MSc 2007. Ryan obtained his
B.S. in biology at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He conducted
his thesis research on "Seasonal habitat use of the Florida manatee
in Kings Bay, Crystal River Florida in relation to the natural factors of
habitat composition and the possible impacts of human activities."
Ryan lived in Crystal River Florida for over a year and went out on a kayak
nearly every day to census and observe manatees in Kings Bay. He has giv
en numerous presentations including a talk at the 2006
Animal Behavior Society conference in Snowbird, Utah. Ryan graduated in
the spring 2007. Ryan is now working in the Jacksonville Office of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
His thesis
is available onlin. Contact