Current ORISE postdoctoral associate joint funded by USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory and USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center. Ben is a Paleolimnologist who graduated from Matt Waters' lab at Auburn University in 2024. We are working together with Ben and USGS and USDA partners on an intensive legacy P project across 120 stream sites in tributary stream networks of the Mississippi River.

Michelle is a postdoctoral associate in Amy Macarelli's lab at Michigan Tech University. As part of a larger NSF project, Michelle is working with us to explore and improve diel N2 flux models. Michelle spent the summer of 2024 in Oxford conducting reach scale experiments across contrasting N:P ratios in stream mesocosms located at UMFS. Michelle is an excellent data scientist and is the developer for the MIMSY package in R. Check out her github page (https://github.com/michelleckelly).

Steve was an ORISE postdoctoral associate joint funded by USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory and USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center. He worked on novel stressor-response relationships in alluvial plain streams. In his current position as a research ecologist with USGS, Steve continues to collaborate with the Taylor lab on testing broader applications  of the his outstanding work on alluvial plain stream ecology and stressor-response relationships.

Victoria came to the Sed Lab with diverse experience from a variety of agency field biologist positions across multiple regions of North America. She is the lady in charge on most of our field and incubation studies and always makes the field fun! We look forward to continuing to work with Victoria on joint UM-USDA research projects in the future.

Terry worked for USDA-ARS as a Biologist for 35 years. I had the pleasure of working with Terry during his last few years at the Sed Lab. He contributed to many studies under multiple scientists during his tenure. Terry continues to work in his retirement by helping keep things working at the UM Field Station so we still run into him!

Sam worked for USDA-ARS as a Biologist for 30 years. Sam was integral to getting my research program started at the Sed Lab. He contributed to many great projects and help design/build many of our original mesocosm and incubation set-ups. Sam still lives in the Oxford area and when he is not off on insect collecting adventures we try and keep up with him!

Isabelle received her PhD in Biology from Baylor University in May of 2025 in Thad Scott's lab. Her dissertation title was "Effects of hypereutrophication and imbalanced nutrient stoichiometry on phytoplankton community composition and biogeochemical processes in lakes". She conducted all of her dissertation experiments in the limnocorrals at UMFS. She is currently doing lots of interesting things like attending ECO-DAS and working as a postdoc at Miami University of Ohio.

Andrew received his M.S. in Biology from the University of Mississippi in December of 2024 in Jason Hoeksema's lab. His thesis title was "Effects of off-season fall-winter farm field flooding on nitrogen gas production". Andrew is currently working as a research technician at the Center for the Management, Utilization, and Protection of Water Resources at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, TN.

Victoria received her M.S. in Biology from the University of Mississippi in August 2024 in Jason Hoeksema's lab. Her these title was "Indirect and direct pathways of migratory shorebird effects on nitrogen cycling within temporarily flooded agricultural fields". She is currently working as a full-time Biologist (Support Scientist) at the USDA-ARS National Sedimentation Laboratory in Oxford, MS.

Mason competed his MS in Wildlife, Fisheries & Aquaculture in Beth Baker's lab in the College of Forest Resources at Mississippi State University in May 2023. He worked with our lab on the flooded fields project to collect data for his thesis entitled "Determining the impact of post-harvest water management on invertebrate communities, agrochemical availability, and potential trophic biomagnifcation."

Shannon competed her MS in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science in Thad Scott's lab at the U. of Arkansas in Spring of 2016. Shannon worked closely with my lab to collect all of her data for her thesis entitled "Examining denitrification in agricultural ditch sediments vegetated with rice cutgrass (Leersia oryzoides): Modeling season variation across increasing levels of nitrtate loading and model application to pre-existing datasets." Shannon went on to do great things working on her PhD in Jen Tank's lab at Notre Dame. She is now an assistant professor of Water Quality at the U. of Arkansas (https://speirlab.weebly.com/).

Ashley competed her MS in Crop, Soil, and Environmental Science in Thad Scott's lab at the U. of Arkansas in Spring of 2016. Her thesis title was "A method comparison and stressor-response experimental study of nitrogen and phosphorus impacts to periphyton in Ozark streams." My lab worked closely with Ashley to facilitate a streamside mesocosm study on the Buffalo River as one of her thesis chapters. Ashley worked for the National Parks Service on the Buffalo National River after graduation, and now works as a resource conservationist for NRCS in Arkansas.

Aaron worked as a student worker for 1 year while finishing up his chemistry degree at UM. He primarily worked on mesocosm studies related to N2 flux and also contributed time to our current regional Legacy P in streams study. Aaron is currently working as a technician with the Hoeksema and Taylor labs at UM.

Rosa worked as a technician in our lab at NSL for 1 year after receiving her degree in Biology from UM. She gained a diversity of experiences working on our flooded field project, the N2 flux mesocosm project, and the legacy P project. Rosa is now pursuing her PhD in the School of Pharmacy at UM.

We ran into Emma often during her shorebird surveys on the flooded fields project for her MS in Biology degree at UM. She was so curious about what we did all day in the mud that she joined the lab briefly in between her masters program and her current full time shorebird survey technician position with USGS.

Alex spent part of her senior year of her Biology degree working with us on sediment core incubations from flooded fields and aquaculture ponds. She is now taking some time to work and explore graduate school programs.

I met Jaylen on a research boat on the Mississippi River where he was working for free just because he was curious about aquatic biology. He ended up working at the NSL for 1.5 years on various topics including our flooded fields project, a Mississippi backwater project, and the limnocorral project. Jaylen is now working on his PhD in Thad Scott's lab at Baylor University.

Alana joined our team for 1 year as a technician after completing her Environmental Science degree at Rhodes College. She worked on several studies related to flooding effects on gas fluxes and soils in agricultural fields. After a season as a remote field technician with USDA-Forest Service out west, she joined the Speir Lab at U. of Arkansas. Alana works as a program associate on watershed and AR Discovery Farm water quality projects.

After graduating with her degree in Biology from UM, Rachel spent the COVID isolation period in 2020 conducting shorebird surveys at our flooded fields project. Working in open-air environments I was able to accompany her on many surveys and learn a little bit about shorebird id. I probably know just enough to be dangerous now. Rachel is working on coastal bird communities for her MS degree at Mississippi State U.

Don't let Pablo's rugged exterior fool you. He is really fun to be around and has a solid background in freshwater ecology. We were lucky enough to take advantage of his field and lab expertise for a couple of years at the NSL while he was located in Oxford. He now lives in northwest Arkansas and works for the Army Corps of Engineers.

Bo spent two summers working with us after a chance encounter between his dad and Sam Testa. Bo completed his degree in Environmental Science from U. of TN at Chattanooga and went on to get a MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Bo is currently working on nature based solutions to improve water quality and infrastructure as a water scientist with an aerospace company.

Alex came to us via a friend at Heritage University in Washington State. They worked for us for 1 year and were a key person in helping establish our initial flooded fields and limnocorral projects. Alex went on to get their MS in Oceanography at Oregon State University and is now pursuing a science teaching career back in Washington.

Bryson worked for us for 1 year as a temporary technician. He was a key personnel in an interesting study on how rowcrop organic matter influences denitrification potential in adjacent waterbodies. He also was Sam Testa's right-hand man in the difficult task of installing 12 limnocorrals at the UMFS. Bryson currently works full-time as a stay-at-home dad.

James worked with us as a summer research intern when we first began playing with in situ N2:Ar ratio measurements on the MIMS. James recieved a degree in forensic chemistry from UM and went on to get a MS degree in Environmental Toxicology within UM School of Pharmacy.

Katelynn worked for us as a technician for 1 year after graduating with a degree in Biology from UM. She worked on several projects related to organic matter breakdown and nutrient limitation in agricultural waterbodies. Katelynn currently keeps busy as a mother, owner of a resale shop, teacher at the local Montessori School, and provider of outdoor nature-based learning experiences for homeschool groups