Sydney Shaw
Research Specialist, Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research 

B.S. in Environmental and Ocean Sciences, University of San Diego

B.A. in History, Texas A&M University

Sydney is a Research Specialist with the CAP-LTER project. She completed her second bachelor’s degree in Environmental and Ocean Sciences in 2024 after completing her tour of duty as an active duty naval officer where she continues to serve as a reservist. Her undergraduate research focused on the comparison of constructed and naturally-occurring tidal marshes in San Diego, California as a habitat for local fish species. With CAP-LTER, her work focuses on the impacts of urbanization on terrestrial ecosystems, particularly soil biology and biogeochemistry.

Sydney.Shaw@asu.edu

Michelle Otto
M.S. in Biological Data Science

Michelle's M.S. thesis uses multiple years of field data from the Antarctic Peninsula to analyze how moss species and structural characteristics influence terrestrial soil microbial and invertebrate communities. She is using structural equation modeling (SEM) to identify the ecologically relevant moss characteristics for invertebrates, such as springtails and mites, as a tool project the impacts of future plant community change on Antarctica's only year-round terrestrial wildlife.

Jocelyn Mendoza
B.S. in Environmental Science
M.S. in Environment and Resource Management

Jocelyn's thesis for her M.S. investigates how plant litter decomposition, and therefore the subsequent input of carbon into soils, will be impacted by altered precipitation patterns that are occurring in the Sonoran Desert. This builds on her independent research project developed as an undergraduate NCUIRE Scholar, where she developed her interest in soil carbon dynamics.

Erin Walsh
B.S. in Environmental Science
M.S. in Environment and Resource Management

Erin is a research aide contributing to the project investigating plant-soil interactions during ecological succession following glacial retreat in Antarctica. Her work uses microscopy techniques to investigate both soil microbes and microfauna, as they change with plant type and successional stages.

Evan Hopps
B.S. in Environmental Science

Evan is a research aide with the Antarctic research project investigating plant-soil interactions during ecological succession following glacial retreat. He uses microscopy to enumerate soil microbes and nematodes across successional stages and plant types. Currently, he focuses on epifluorescent microscopy to measure microbial abundance and biovolume.

Tamara Kratochwil
B.A. in Environmental Science

Tamara began in the lab as an NCEHSS Scholar studying the soil food web in ASU's Carbon Sink Forest. Tamara's research complemented the existing measurements of carbon pools and fluxes by building an understanding of the soil food web that processes that carbon. Upon completion of this project, Tamara became a research aide applying these skills to understand soil food webs and biogeochemistry at glacial succession zones in Antarctica.

Samantha Lohmann
B.S. in Environmental Science

Samantha was a research assistant with the Antarctic research project exploring plant-soil interactions during ecological succession after glacial retreat. Sam was responsible for biological and chemical analyses on plant and soil samples collected during our recent field campaigns in Antarctica. Ultimately, the results of her work will demonstrate how plants alter soil chemistry and biological communities as primary succession progresses.

Matthew Oless
B.A. in Environmental Science

Matthew is studying soil invertebrate communities. Currently he is focusing on the microfauna (largely nematodes and tardigrades) living in Antarctic soil and plants, and their functional feeding guilds. 

Krishna Patel
M.S. in Biological Data Science

Krishna's applied project for her M.S. focuses on the long-term patterns of atmospheric nitrogen deposition in Phoenix, AZ and its impacts on soil and plant nutrients. She is using the CAP LTER's DesFert long-term dataset to explore spatial and temporal differences in N deposition that result from human activities, and how it relates to mineral forms of plant-available nutrients in the soil.

Hannah Pham
B.S. in Environmental Science
M.S. in Environment and Resource Management

Hannah was the research technician with our "living experiment" in water conservation for turf grass. In a collaboration between ASU's Sustainability Practices Office, the Bureau of Reclamations, and the City of Phoenix, a water-absorbing polymer was applied to an ASU athletic field and a City of Phoenix public park to test its efficacy for reducing irrigation needs in a desert environment. Hannah was responsible for the regular soil sample collection and analysis of soil physical properties, particularly those related to water retention.

Kevin Prehm
B.S. in Environmental Science

Kevin investigated the impacts of disturbance on desert soil microbial communities for his capstone independent research project. While a lot of research has explored the impact of disturbances on the microbial communities living in cryptobiotic soil biocrusts, we know relatively little about the response of free-living desert soil fungi to human disturbances. Kevin specifically explored how mountain bike trails, a significant source of soil compaction and erosion in the desert, influence fungal abundance relative to bacteria.

Bridget Turner
B.S. in Environmental Science

Bridget is a NCEHSS Scholar studying the soil food web in ASU's Carbon Sink Forest. The Carbon Sink Forest was planted at ASU's West Campus to test whether urban forestry as a carbon sink is effective and practical in a desert city using native Sonoran Desert mesquite trees. Bridget's research complements the existing measurements of carbon pools and fluxes by building an understanding of the soil food web that processes that carbon, from the microbial flora to the micro- and meso-fauna, with a main focus on the microarthropods.

Han Zhang
B.S. in Environmental Science

Han completed his capstone research experience by assisting with microscopy-based protocols in the lab, including identification and enumeration of moss and nematodes from both the Sonoran Desert and Antarctica.