Lab Members
Dr. Jill Leonard
Principle Investigator and lab head
Northern Michigan University faculty in Biology since 2000
Ph.D. University of Massachusetts 1997
M.S. University of Delaware 1992
B.S. College of William and Mary 1989
Dr. Leonard's principle scientific interests surround life history variation in aquatic species, primarily fish. Exploring why individuals display different life strategies is both fascinating and crucial to understanding how environmental forces will impact individuals and populations. She uses a variety of approaches to investigate these questions ranging from laboratory studies using common garden systems and behavioral arenas to field projects using telemetry and classical ecological techniques. As much as possible, her group tries to explain observed ecology by understanding the physiology of the animal. Additional interests include winter and coldwater ecology as well as environmental change. She has a sweet spot for native species, non-game fishes, and the understudied. Species of special interest include brook trout and burbot.
Alexis Pupo
Alexis made her way from south Florida to the UP in Fall 2022. Her work is centered on behavior and sensory characteristics of larval burbot in order to help understand dispersal-related behavior. She came to us from the University of Miami where she studied Marine Science and Biology.
Michael Diefenback
Mike
Alex "Fish" Kruithof
Brendan Zak
Lab Alums
Graduate Students:
Dan Monhollon - M.S. 2023
Andrew Shapiro - M.S. 2023
Michael Woodworth - M.S. 2023
Reinna Blair - M.S. 2022
Jacob Bowman - M.S. 2022
Chase Daiek - M.S. 2022
Erin Emington
Thornton Ritz - M.S. 2019
Ben Bejcek - M.S. 2019
Grace Zimmermann
Eric Miltz-Miller
Matt Symbal - M.S. 2017
Spenser Chicoine - M.S. 2017
Josh Litvinoff
Joseph Susco - M.S. 2017
Kayla Knoll - M.S. 2015
David Essian - M.S. 2015
Casey Hares - M.S. 2014
Joseph Wagner
Jon Pearce - M.S. 2013
Jesse Haavisto - M.S. 2014
Rachel Guth - M.S. 2013
Robert Cross - M.S. 2013
Donald Danesi
Chris Kovala - M.S. 2012
Alexis Growe-Raney - M.S. 2016
Kevin Duby
Julie Howard - M.S. 2013
Joseph Gerbyshak - M.S. 2015
Chris Gagnon - M.S. 2013
Sara Ruiter - M.S. 2008
Carla Vitale Serfas - M.S. 2009
Paul Kusnierz - M.S. 2008
Nicole White Griewahn
Todd Anderson
Gerrit Cain
Shawn Nowicki - M.S. 2007
Sean Stimmell - M.S. 2005
Ashwin Sreenivasan - M.S. 2005
Dan Armichardy - M.S. 2008
Lab Technicians:
Anna Varian