University of Texas at Austin (2023 - present) — B.S. Biology, Honors - Dean’s Scholars, Minor in Statistics and Data Science GPA: 4.0

Carroll Senior High School (2019 - 2023) — Unweighted GPA: 4.0, Class Rank: 3/726

6) 30 July 2025. Following the Scent: How Mosquitoes May Drive Amphibian Declines. Mountain Lake Biological Station REU Symposium. Mountain Lake Biological Station.

5) 13 November 2024. From Ground to Canopy: The Herpetofauna of Ivohiboro Protected Area, Madagascar. Undergraduate Research Results Forum. University of Texas at Austin and China Medical University.

4) 9 November 2024. From Ground to Canopy: The Herpetofauna of Ivohiboro Protected Area, Madagascar. Gulf Coast Undergraduate Research Symposium. Rice University. 

3) 5 October 2024. From Ground to Canopy: The Herpetofauna of Ivohiboro Protected Area, Madagascar. Fall Undergraduate Research Symposium. University of Texas at Austin. 

2) 15 August 2024. Unseen Life in the Indian River Lagoon. Smithsonian Institution Virtual Internship Showcase.

1) 9 July 2022. Phosphine Coordination Materials Incorporating Functionalized Bipyridine Pillars. Welch Summer Scholars Seminar Series. University of Texas at Austin. 

8) Schmeder, Iris E., Basham, Edmund W., Masotti, Matteo D., Allen, Chloé, Vences, Miguel, Scheffers, Brett, Zamudio, Kelly R., Wright, Patricia C. From Ground to Canopy: The Herpetofauna of Ivohiboro Protected Area, Madagascar. National Collegiate Research Conference 2025 at Harvard. Cambridge, Massachusetts. 24-26 January 2025.

7) Benjamin Strang, Matthew Chumchal, Benjamin D. Barst, Kurt Burnham, Aleah Appel, Morgan Capone, Maddy Hannappel, Rueben Heine, Benjamin Katzenmeyer, Kevin Myer, Iris Schmeder, Sarah Scott, Emma Sullivan, Tyler Williams. Hg concentrations of spiders from Greenland: Potential as sentinels of Hg contamination in High Arctic lentic systems and risk to arachnivorous birds. Society for Freshwater Science 2024. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 2-6 June 2024.

6) Benjamin Strang, Matthew Chumchal, Benjamin D. Barst, Kurt Burnham, Aleah Appel, Morgan Capone, Maddy Hannappel, Rueben Heine, Benjamin Katzenmeyer, Kevin Myer, Iris Schmeder, Sarah Scott, Emma Sullivan, Tyler Williams. Hg concentrations of spiders from Greenland: Potential as sentinels of Hg contamination in High Arctic lentic systems and risk to arachnivorous birds. Texas Christian University Student Research Symposium. Fort Worth, Texas. 19 April 2024.

5) Benjamin Strang, Kurt Burnham, Aleah Appel, Morgan Capone, Maddy Hannappel, Rueben Heine, Benjamin Katzenmeyer, Kevin Myer, Iris Schmeder, Sarah Scott, Emma Sullivan, Tyler Williams, Matthew Chumchal. Mercury contamination of wolf spiders from Northwest Greenland. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry North America 44th Annual Meeting. Louisville, Kentucky. 12–16 November 2023.

4) Schmeder, I. & Gostel, M. R. Development of Integrative Taxonomic Resources for the Global Composite Database: a case study in the ironweed tribe, Vernonieae (Compositae). Texas Plant Conservation Conference 2023. 14–15 August 2023.

3) Schmeder, I. & Gostel, M. R. Development of Integrative Taxonomic Resources for the Global Composite Database: a case study in the ironweed tribe, Vernonieae (Compositae). National meetings of the Botanical Society of America and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. Boise, Idaho. 22–26 July 2023. 

2) Schmeder, Iris; Siu, Benjamin; Humphrey, Simon. Phosphine Coordination Materials Incorporating Functionalized Bipyridine Pillars. Welch Summer Scholars Poster Presentation 2022. Austin, Texas. 8 July 2022.

1) Morgan Capone, Tyler Williams, Iris Schmeder, Christopher Allender, Macyn Willingham, Tori Martinez, Robert Peterson, Andrew Degges, Andrew Todd, Matt Chumchal, Ray Drenner. Effect of Body Size and Sex on Mercury Concentrations in Araneid Spiders. Texas Christian University Student Research Symposium. Fort Worth, Texas. 22 April 2022. 

UT Austin Zamudio Lab — Research Assistant, Austin, TX (Jan 2024 - present)

Undergraduate research assistant studying herpetological biodiversity and species interactions of neotropical and afrotropical frogs. Our research focuses on the effect of Chytrid fungus on global amphibian declines as well as discovering new species using genetic and morphological characteristics. 

Mountain Lake Biological Station REU — Student Researcher, Pembroke, VA (May 2025 - Aug 2025)

Independent researcher mentored by Joanna Reinhold, PhD, David McLeod, PhD and Chloé Lahondère, PhD. My project looked at the olfactory basis of host seeking by ectotherm-specialist mosquitoes as well as the prevalence of trypanosomes and ranaviruses among wild mosquito and frog populations at MLBS.

Smithsonian Marine Station Benthic Ecology Lab — Summer Intern, Fort Pierce, FL (Jun 2024 - Aug 2024)

Benthic infauna collection and processing contributing to a long-term Everglades restoration project as well as development of the Indian River Lagoon Species Inventory biodiversity portal.

UT Austin FRI Biodiversity Discovery Stream — Student Researcher, Austin, TX (Jan 2024 - Dec 2024)

Utilizing DNA techniques and phylogeny analysis to delimitate and classify new species of Eleutherodactylus frogs found in Texas and Mexico.

PBS Digital Studios — Intern, Austin, TX (Aug 2023 - Aug 2024)

Intern on the research and writing team for the PBS Digital Studios show, It’s Okay To Be Smart. Involvement also extended to creative design, script editing, and video production. 

Botanical Research Institute of Texas — Summer Research Assistant, Fort Worth, TX (Jun 2023 - Jul 2023)

Summer internship supporting the development of plant taxonomic resources in the Global Compositae Database (GCD) and World Flora Online. 

Caltech Fischer Geobiology Lab — Research Intern, Remote (Sep 2022 - May 2023)

Utilized NCBI BLAST, Excel, and sourmash (a Python-based code) to find previously undiscovered photosynthetic microbes in metagenomic databases with a focus on Chloroflexota.

UT Austin Humphrey Lab — Welch Summer Scholar, Austin, TX (Jun 2022 - Jul 2022)

Conducted research over the course of 5 weeks as a member of the Humphrey MOF lab group at UT Austin. Presented findings over metal-organic frameworks through a poster presentation, lecture, and research paper. 

TCU Mercury Contamination Lab — Lab Research Intern, Fort Worth, TX (Sep 2021 - May 2023)

Studied spiders as sentinels for Mercury contamination. Work involved riparian spider capture, identification, processing, and analysis to evaluate methylMercury content across a variety of factors in arachnids. 

TCU Bat Lab — Lab Research Intern, Fort Worth, TX (May 2021 - Oct 2023)

Worked under Dr. Bennett within the TCU Bat Lab, conducting field research on North Texas bat habitat use. Research included night surveys at various sites using thermal cameras and audio equipment.

Ecology — Teaching Assistant, UT Austin (2025-present)

Assist with in-class instruction, grading, hold office hours, and mentor students.

Genetics — Teaching Assistant, UT Austin (2025)

Assist with in-class instruction, hold office hours, and mentor students.

Dean’s Scholars Freshman Seminar — Teaching Assistant, UT Austin (2024-2025)

Assist with in-class instruction and mentor students.

Texas EEB Club — Vice President, UT Austin (2024-present)

Organize, coordinate, and oversee club events and activities.

Dean’s Scholars Council — Leadership Team, UT Austin (2023-2025)

Plan several events each semester to foster a scholarly and close-knit community.

2026 President's Award for Global Learning — UT Austin

2025 College of Natural Sciences Honors Scholarship ($350) — UT Austin

2025 Undergraduate Research Fellowship ($900) — UT Austin

2024 Texas EEB Fieldwork Microgrant ($300) — UT Austin

2024 Stengl-Wyers Biodiversity Scholar ($2000) — UT Austin

2023 Dean’s Scholar — UT Austin

2023 National Merit Scholar Finalist & Recipient ($2500) — National Merit Scholarship Corporation

QGIS, DNA Extraction, Microscopy, Specimen Collection, PCR, qPCR, Night Surveys, Fieldwork, Toe-clipping, Swabbing (Buccal, Skin), Euthanasia, Frog Capture, Mandarin Chinese

Herpetology, Evolution, Biology of Birds, Microbiology, Animal Behavior, Ecology, Field Biology, Biology Lab, Statistics