Lab Alumni and Past Students

Email: agannon@pdx.edu

Amanda Gannon (MEM, 2024)

Amanda Gannon is a second-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) student studying public perceptions and attitudes toward microplastics in Oregon. She received her B.S. in Marine Biology from UC San Diego in 2018. During her time at UCSD and after graduation, she worked at Scripps Institution of Oceanography’s Benthic Invertebrate Collection on multiple NSF-funded specimen transfer projects. In 2021, she was selected for the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s Summer Internship Program to analyze time-lapse photography of deep-sea coral ecosystems. Beyond her love of the ocean, Amanda’s interests include traveling to new places and sharing pictures of her pet cat, Sugar Cookie.

Marilyn Duncan (BS, 2024)

Marilyn is an undergraduate at Portland State University majoring in Environmental Science. Marilyn grew up in a riparian oak forest along the South fork of the Kaweah River where she learned to appreciate nature at a young age. Her main interests are protecting endangered species and their habitats along with researching the effects of anthropogenic pollution on coastal ecology in the Pacific Northwest. Marilyn is currently working on her Environmental Science honors thesis focused on microplastics in Pacific Oysters.

Email: mduncan@pdx.edu

Email: jazmine6@pdx.edu

Jazmine Compton (BS, 2024)

Jazmine is a senior in the Honors College and is pursuing a BS in Environmental Science. She grew up in Brownsville, Oregon. In her free time, she enjoys crossword puzzles, traveling, and riding her bike with friends. During her junior year, she had the opportunity to study abroad in Zanzibar and Panama to study coastal ecology and biodiversity conservation. Her undergraduate research experience includes two independent study projects in Zanzibar and Panama focused on seaweed farming and intertidal macroalgae diversity, respectively. She also completed a summer REEU fellowship through Bowie State University in collaboration with Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya, focused on food security and aquaculture sustainability. Her specific research interests include marine resource management and intertidal ecology. Jazmine is currently working on her Honors thesis.

Mia Hackett (BS, 2023)

Mia graduated with a BS in Environmental Science and Management in the Spring of 2023. She was born in Mesa, Arizona but is now in love with Portland, Oregon because of the weather and the very cool interns. She has a wonderful cat named Reese's.
Publication

Email: hackett4@pdx.edu

Email: allis26@pdx.edu

Keir Allison-Bourne (PSM, 2023)

Keir Allison-Bourne is a second-year Professional Science Master (PSM) student studying the toxicological effects of microfibers on mussels. He graduated from Portland State University with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Management. He currently works for the City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services where he conducts stormwater monitoring, policy research, and data analysis. His passion for environmental science and ecology was cultivated through a previous job performing wetland restoration. Outside of the research lab he is a musician and basketball fan.

Geoff Szafranski (MEM, 2023)

Geoff Szafranski is a second-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) student studying how invasive mangrove forests interact with adjacent coastal ecosystems in Hawaii. Before coming to PSU, he worked a variety of ecological technician jobs, including projects in the Florida Everglades, Coastal Mangrove Forests in Madagascar, and in Alaskan Fisheries. These experiences inspired him to study topics such as biodiversity in native and non-native ecosystems, connectivity between coastal habitats, and ecosystems resilience. He received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Illinois.

Email: gszaf2@pdx.edu

Email: tpaulsen@pdx.edu

Tessa Paulsen (PSM, 2023)

Summer Traylor (MEM, 2022)

Summer is from the small town of Perris, California. She graduated from University of California, Santa Cruz in 2018 with a B.A in Environmental Studies focusing in Earth Science. She is proud to represent first generation, women, and POC in S.T.E.M. Since graduating she has worked on several natural resource field crews throughout the West, including: an Aquatic Invasive Species crew at Lake Mead NRA, Habitat Restoration & Wildlife Monitoring crew in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, and Native Seed Collection crew for wildland fire restoration in Northern Nevada. Her research interests include: wildlife conservation, the effects of microplastics on wildlife, marine protected area management, invasive species management, and seabird conservation. Her MEM project focuses on evaluating microplastic pollution in seven fish species commonly consumed as seafood in Oregon. She is also an intern at Landesa, where she studies coastal mangrove ecology in Cambodia and ecosystem based approaches to land tenure security for coastal Cambodians. Her interest in mitigating microplastics was fostered on Kure Atoll, where marine debris like microplastics negatively impact native seabird and mammal species. Her favorite seabird is the Red Tailed Tropicbird.

Email: straylor@pdx.edu

Twitter

Email: mahurst@pdx.edu

Maya Hurst (MEM, 2022)

Maya Hurst is a first year Masters student interested in studying, quantifying, and reducing microplastics in the marine environment. She graduated from the University of Portland with a B.S. in Environmental Science. Her undergraduate research experience includes designing a data collection system used to conduct a waste audit of a grocery store. This data revealed a 1:5 ratio of food to plastic packaging and identified which types of products result in the most plastic waste. Since then she worked as an environmental consultant through the Oregon Applied Sustainability Experience internship program to reduce waste and utility consumption at Grand Central Bakery. She currently works as an assistant at a plant nursery in Portland developing methods to reduce their carbon footprint. As part of the Microplastics Research group, she looks forward to exploring how microplastics enter the waterways and developing impactful solutions to reduce their prevalence. In her free time, she enjoys backpacking, running, and caring for her many houseplants.
Publication

Kaegan Scully-Englmeyer (PhD, 2021)

Kaegan is interested in exploring connections between forestry management practices and aquatic life in Oregon's Coast Range. He received his B.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon in 2009 and worked for several years in natural resource management projects in Oregon ranging from wetland conservation and management to endangered species recovery. His current work allows him to focus on landscape-scale issues facing the Oregon Coast and the connection between sources of pollution and potential impacts on freshwater and estuarine aquatic communities. He is focusing his research on analyzing Western Pearlshell mussels (Margaritifera falcata) and Softshell clams (Mya arenaria) in estuaries and rivers along the coast for forestry-specific chemical compounds, and comparing concentrations to ratios of land use management/practices upstream. Publication

Website: www.amyehrhart.com
Linkedin
Twitter

Amy Ehrhart (PhD, 2021)

Amy grew up in Utah, but always had a passion for marine environments. She received her B.S. in Biology/Zoology from Southern Utah University where she conducted research on effects of food limitation on stinging cell production in sea anemones. After her BS, Amy worked at the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake City developing and teaching inquiry-based education programs to diverse students, teachers and the public focused on local and marine ecosystems and environmental stewardship. For her PhD research, Amy studied occurrence of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) in coastal waters and their effects on Pacific oysters, a commercially grown species in the Pacific northwest. In her spare time, Amy enjoys hiking, playing board games, and traveling.

Publication

Rosemary Wood (BS, 2020)

Rosie Wood completed a BS in Environmental Science & Management in the Spring of 2020. Growing up in northeast PA, she developed ample context for both the humanist & ecological impacts of anthropogenic systems on a landscape’s hydrology & health from an early age. Her interests have grown from her personal experiences including the influx of natural gas fracking exploitation at home; her study abroad in Sabah, Borneo, working to promote indigenous ecological/land use rights in the face of the Kaiduan Dam project; and her experience working with Dr. Starry on the behavioral use & stress reduction impacts of eco-roof exposure amongst hospital staff, patients, and visitors. She aims to better describe and understand the intersections between anthropogenic interactions, shifting climate impacts, as well as the structures exploiting not only environmental systems & resources but also the vulnerable populations at the mercy of these structures, both humans and the multitude of species at large. She is working on her Honors Thesis characterizing sea surface microplastic proportions & types off of the Olympic Peninsula.

Email: rosewood@pdx.edu

Email: ahem2@pdx.edu

Amy Hemingway

For her Master’s of Environmental Management (MEM) project, Amy has partnered with Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality Water Quality and Assessment Program. She will be using satellite imagery to identify animal-related manure lagoons and other sources of fecal bacteria in Oregon’s Coastal streams. Her work will aid in the development of a Total Daily Maximum Load for bacteria in streams listed as impaired by the EPA. Amy has worked in the service and hospitality industries for 15+ years and loves the connection people have with food. Her time working in a sustainable sushi restaurant led her to study coastal ecology and her concern with the current status of Oregon’s shellfisheries has guided her into her current project. Most importantly, she has a cat named Acorn. Linkedin

Britta Baechler (PhD, 2020)

Britta grew up in Homer, Alaska, where she enjoyed a great deal of time outdoors. She began her career in fisheries and natural resource management as a junior in high school and has continued in that vein ever since. Britta obtained B.A. in Biology at Lewis & Clark College in 2009. Since then, she has worked as a shellfish fishery biologist and fishery manager in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands region of Alaska, as well as a Coral Reef Management Fellow and Marine Protected Area Coordinator in the U.S. territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. For her PhD research, Britta quantifies concentrations of microplastics in Pacific Northwest bivalves (Pacific razor clams and Pacific oysters), determines harvest and consumption levels of razor clams by diggers on the Olympic Coast, WA, and informs members of the public about marine plastic pollution through an educational exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Britta currently works at both the NOAA West Coast Region Protected Resources Division in Portland, OR and the Lower Columbia Fish Recovery Board in Vancouver, WA.
Publication

Amy Valine (BS, 2019)

Amy Valine graduated from PSU in 2019 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and a Minor in Biology. As a student of the University Honors College, she completed a senior thesis and chose microplastic pollution as her research focus, which led her to Dr. Granek and the Applied Coastal Ecology Lab. Amy assisted with a collaborative project between the lab and Oregon Public Broadcasting. The aim of the project was to quantify microplastic pollution in Oregon's rivers, and Amy's thesis focused on introducing Nile Red dye as a method to improve the accuracy of microplastic counts in plankton tow samples from each of the sites along the Columbia, Willamette, Deschutes, and Rogue Rivers. The full thesis titled "Nile Red Microplastic Validation: Enhancing the Study of Microplastics in Oregon’s River Water" can be downloaded from the PDXScholar library. Since her graduation, she accepted an analyst position at an environmental testing laboratory and relocated back to California.
Publication

Bryn Hudson (PSM, 2018)

Bryn, a born and raised Portland native, graduated from the Professional Science Master of Environmental Management program. She played water polo for four years at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and graduated in 2016 with a B.S. in Aquatic Biology and a Minor in Educational Studies. In partnership with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Bryn's research assessed shifting efforts, behaviors and values of fishermen in Oregon's nearshore fisheries. Her work focuses on the intersection between sociology and ecology and informs adaptive management in a way that benefits both the nearshore ecosystems and the humans that interact with it.
Publication

Zbignew Grabowski (PhD, 2018)

Thesis Title: What's the dam difference? A comparative analysis of three large dam removals in the PNW using multi-reach synchronous controls and an analysis of their social, ecological, and technological contexts.

Publication

Casey Lewis (MS, 2017)

Thesis project: Molokai's Non-Native Mangroves: Examining Ecosystem Services, Local Perceptions, and Management Practices

Publication

Sabra Comet (MEM, 2017)

Sabra was an Oregon Sea Grant Robert E. Malouf Scholar (2015-2016), and worked with the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife as her community partner on a project designed to help understand tribal uses of marine species to inform Oregon's baseline understanding of recently designated marine reserves and protected areas. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with an emphasis in Zoology from Southern Oregon University in 2012. During the summer of 2011 she participated in a California Fish and Wildlife Service program designed to get Native American college students into Fish and Wildlife careers. The program offered Sabra the opportunity to work on a number of wildlife crews in northwestern California, including invasive plant removal, bird song recording, banding Swainson’s hawks and songbirds, and tracking Pacific fishers through radio telemetry. She then worked for the Marine Resources Department of a tribe in northern California, where her duties included representing the tribe at several west coast-wide marine planning coalition meetings. Sabra now works for the Department of Interior in Washington, D.C.
PDXScholar

Jaclyn Teixeira (MS, 2016)

Jaclyn was a Master of Science student who studied contaminants on the Oregon coast, and their effects on aquatic organisms, to inform the greater investigation of human impacts on ecosystem functioning. She received her B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Brown University in Providence, RI in 2011, for which her undergraduate honors thesis drew upon themes of conservation biology in a comparative study of wetland regulation in MA and RI. While at Brown she held environmental research internships studying New England salt marsh habitat quality, and invasion ecology in beach plant communities. She also has experience working as a biologist for a Navy contracting firm in the Environmental Division of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, RI.
Publication

Joey Peters (MS, 2016)

Pharmaceutical Contaminants as Stressors on Rocky Intertidal and Estuarine Organisms: a Case Study of Fluoxetine

Publication

Heather Hayden (MS, 2016)

Thesis project: Factors Impacting Regeneration of and Coastal Protection by Rhizophora mangle

Publication

Emma Prichard (BS, 2015)

Research Interest: The effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products on marine organisms, including plants, algae, invertebrates, vertebrates, and mammals.
Emma reviewed the effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products on the 55 studied species of marine organisms. The literature review covered the current knowledge about how pharmaceuticals (such as caffeine, ibuprofen, and fluoxetine), and personal care products (such as parabens, sunscreen, and musks) discharged into the marine environment nonlethally cause subcellular changes in individual organisms. These subcellular effects cause a variety of ecological consequences beginning with changes in behavior, metabolism, reproduction, and stress response.
Publication

Kaity Goldsmith (MEM, 2014)

Thesis project: : Information Needs Assessment for Coastal and Marine Management and Policy in the Pacific Northwest

Sarah Freed (PhD, 2013)

Dissertation project: Integrated assessment and community-based monitoring for sustainability: a case study of coral reefs of the Comoros Islands

PDXScholar

Chris Mongeon (MEM, 2012)

Thesis project: An artisanal Spotted Rose Snapper fishery: contributions to a Sustainable Fishery Certification

Zoe Rodriguez del Rey (MS, 2010)

Thesis project: Caffeine in Coastal Waters: Environmental Concentrations and Sub-lethal Effects on Marine Invertebrates

Amanda Hillman (MS, 2010)

Thesis project: Caffeine in Coastal Waters: Environmental Concentrations and Sub-lethal Effects on Marine Invertebrates

Publication

In Memorium: Choo Chee Kuang

November 16, 1977 - June 9, 2013

PhD. Dissertation project: Integrated estuarine reserve planning: a case study at the Pulai River Estuary, Malaysia

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