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Principal investigator
Kimberly Sheldon
Assistant Professor
ksheldon@utk.edu
Google Scholar Profile
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Postdoctoral Researchers
Amanda Wilson Carter
Postdoctoral Researcher
Website
Google Scholar Profile
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Graduate students
Maggie Mamantov
PhD Student
mmamanto@utk.edu
Maggie joined the lab in August 2016. She completed her undergraduate degree at Grinnell College in Iowa. In addition to research experiences at the University of Kentucky and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Maggie worked on an independent research project examining population structure of Formica exsectoides, a superconlonial ant species, across its North American range. She has strong interests in invasion biology and how biotic factors affect species ranges. Maggie is also passionate about sharing science with the public and fostering an interest in STEM. Check out her outreach here.
Claire Winfrey
PhD Student
Claire joined the lab in August 2017. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. In addition to working with herpetofauna, Claire completed an undergraduate research project examining the role of visual and non-visual cues in damselfly mate recognition (Winfrey & Fincke 2017).
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Undergraduate students
Sarah Jayne Brawner
Sarah Jayne joined the lab in August 2017. She is a senior in the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology at UTK. Sarah Jayne is helping to launch a new direction in the lab — gut microbiome research on dung beetles.
Shelby Collins
Shelby joined the lab in January 2018. She is a senior in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and part of the Vols Teach Program, which emphasizes field based experiences and is aimed at training those interested in a career in secondary teaching. Shelby is helping with several outreach education efforts in the lab, and she is the Education Coordinator for our program with high school students of the East Band of the Cherokee Indians.
David Edwards
David joined the lab in May 2017. He is a senior in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UTK. David is helping with dung beetle breeding experiments and beginning to work on a sodium addition experiment. He has strong interests in Marine Ecology.
Will Kirkpatrick
Website
Will joined the lab in May 2017. He is a junior in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at UTK. Will is working on dung beetle breeding experiments and starting a sodium addition experiment. He loves sharks, but is growing ever more fond of dung beetles.
Atira Sherrod
Atira joined the lab in September 2016.
She received her Associate of Science degree from Pellissippi State Technical Community College. She completed her B.S. in Biology at the University of Tennessee in 2016 with a concentration in Microbiology. Atira has become particularly interested in ecology and evolutionary biology and is taking additional undergraduate courses to round out her education. She assisted with dung beetle research and worked on an independent project examining operative temperatures of beetles across seasons.
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Other Lab Personnel
Matt McGee
Matt joined the lab in June 2017. He completed his BA at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2011. Matt has worked in a variety of field settings on projects related to prairie restoration and avian ecology. He is helping with trapping in the Smokies, dung beetle breeding in the lab, and a warming experiment in the field.