Undergraduate Research

Well over 30 undergraduate students from Texas Tech University (TTU), the University of Connecticut (UConn) and elsewhere (especially University of Puerto Rico), have had the chance to gain valuable ecological experience by participating in ongoing research projects in the Willig lab. Most students have been funded through NSF grants or REU supplements, as well as through a grant from Howard Hughes Medical Institute to Drs. Blanton and Burns (both faculty members in Biological Sciences at TTU). A number of students have also been funded through the Honor's College at TTU or UConn.

Undergraduate students have conducted research in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Paraguay.  Disciplinary topics for independent research include a variety of areas of biology such as population ecology, foraging ecology, community ecology, disturbance ecology, mammalian systematics, macroecology, island biogeography, and tropical ecology.


Undergraduate Students

Susan Harrell - Functional biodiversity of playa lakes (1994-98)
Lottie Peppers - Foraging ecology of walking sticks (1994-96)
Juan Delgado - Bat foraging ecology and habitat selection (1995)
Alejandro Molinelli - Bat foraging ecology and habitat selection (1995)
John Chapman - Habitat selection in snails (1995)
Melanie Stringer - Habitat selection in snails (1995)
James Lovering - Landscape ecology of terrestrial snails (1996-97)
Stefanie Lee Krantz - Landscape ecology of terrestrial snails (1996)
Fenton Kahn - Landscape ecology of terrestrial snails (1996)
Jack Montgomery - Landscape ecology of terrestrial snails (1996)
Melissa Sullivan - Community ecology of terrestrial snails (1997)
Jose Fumero Caban - Community ecology of terrestrial snails (1997)
Ivan Vicente - Community ecology of terrestrial snails (1997)
Elisa Quintera - Community ecology of tropical invertebrates (1997)
Wendy Bublitz - Morphometrics of bats from Paraguay (1997)
Maia Galliher - Morphometrics of bats from Paraguay (1997)
Stephen Cox - Stream ecology, tropical ecology (1989-93)
Brian Croyle - Stream ecology (1990-92)
Richard Stevens - Stream ecology (1990-92)
Micah Green - Latitudinal gradients of body size (2000-2001)
Lauren Jones - Elevational gradients of litter invertebrates (2008-2009)
Jason Lech – Acoustic monitoring of bird populations (2010-2011)
Katie Abbott – Statistical modeling of habitat associations of terrestrial gastropods (2011-2012)
Rachael Hyland – Reproductive phenology of bats from Costa Rica (2012)
Katie Durant – Reproductive phenology of bats from Costa Rica (2012-2013)
Ryan Hall – Reproductive phenology of bats from Costa Rica (2012-2013)
Scott Adamson – Acoustic recognizers for Connecticut birds (2012-2013)
Shane McNamara – Elevation patterns of gastropod phylogenetic diversity (2012-2013)
Ekaterina Morozova – Acoustic recognizers for Connecticut bats (2012-2013)
Christopher Roberts – Acoustic recognizers for Connecticut birds (2012-2013)
Eve Cullerton – Metacommunity structure in a disturbance-mediated landscape (2018-2020
Greg Aniolek – Disturbance ecology of gastropods (2022-2023)