Professor
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Curriculum vitae: PDF
Google Scholar profile: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=RkTB68YAAAAJ
Born and raised in South Carolina, youngest of 3 children. I've been an academic gypsy and have lived in both Carolinas, Georgia, Colorado, Arizona, South Dakota, and Texas. I've lived in Lubbock and been faculty at TTU since 2000. I've traveled throughout the U.S. and have also been to Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, England, France, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Scotland, and The Netherlands. You can check out my Flickr albums of photos from Kenya here (2023); Panama here (2025), here (2022) and here (2021); and Costa Rica here (2018), here (2017), and here (2015).
My interests and hobbies include birding, photography, watching sports, cooking, playing piano, and running.
Ph.D. student
Originally from Ghana, Nana-Esi earned her B.Sc. in Natural Resources Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. She then completed her M.S. in Biology at Fort Hays State University, Kansas, where her research examined how anthropogenic noise, specifically highway traffic noise, affects avian reproductive success, using the Northern House Wrens as a focal species. Her Ph.D. explores the dynamics of playa wetlands and how they respond to land cover change and climate variability. She will use remote sensing and GIS to map surface water availability over time, evaluate which playas are stable versus highly variable, and assess how surrounding land cover influences playa wetland persistence. By linking wetland dynamics with climate data and migratory bird occurrence records, her work will provide critical insights into how these small but vital stopover habitats are changing, information that can inform conservation planning and land management strategies. Outside of her academic work, Nana-Esi enjoys birding and travelling.
Her LinkedIn page: www.linkedin.com/in/nana-esi-irie-hanson-b34ab5201
M.S. student
Graduate alumni:
Kelly Baker (M.S. 2011)
Austin Biddy (M.S. 2022)
Sarah Candler (M.S. 2014, co-advised with Dr. Ximena Bernal)
Steve Collins (Ph.D. 2014)
Erica Chipman (M.S. 2006)
Justin Dawsey (M.S. 2025)
Demi Gary (M.S. 2017, co-advised with Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle, Dept. Natural Resources Management)
Hannah Girgente (M.S. 2024)
Joseph Girgente (M.S. 2024)
Donna Hamilton (Ph.D. 2008)
Lucas Heintzman (M.S. 2013, Ph.D. 2019)
Danielle Husband (M.S. 2022)
Ashley Kempken (M.A. 2023, co-advised with Dr. Stance Hurst, Heritage and Museum Sciences)
Hunter Kilborn (M.S. 2019)
Jacy Lewis (M.S. 2003)
Bryan Reece (Ph.D. 2009)
Scott Starr (Ph.D. 2018)
Sean Sutor (Ph.D. 2025, co-advised with Dr. Kerry Griffis-Kyle, Dept. Natural Resources Management)
Dorothy Tinkler (Ph.D. 2004)
Undergraduate students:
Benjamin Breedlove, Su14
Julia Bullock (Honors College Undergraduate Research Fellow), F24-Sp25
Stacey Burnham, Sp03
Caroline Claasen (NSF-PRISM Scholar), 2015-16
Kerian Clanahan, Sp17
Morgan Conn, F02
Crystal Craig (HHMI Research Fellow), 2006-07
Justin Dawsey, Sp22
Kristin Dunning, F07
Shane Glidewell, Sp15
Keegan Gossett (NSF-PRISM Scholar), 2014-15
Kyle Hernandez (HHMI Research Fellow), Su04
Kimbree Knight, 2015-16
Jeremy LeClair, Su24
Jennifer Long, Sp15
Lisa Longhofer, Sp02
Davis Mathews, Sp25
Katie McLaughlin, Su05
Lauren McLellan (Honors College Undergraduate Research Fellow), 2008-09
Courtney Miller, Su21
Rebecca Owens (NSF-PRISM Scholar and Terry Scholar), 2013-14
Niki Parikh (NSF-PRISM Scholar), 2012-13
Zach Patton, Sp19
Harley Pruett, Sp16
Savannah Randall (Plains Bridges to the Baccalaureate Scholar), Sp21
Jim Ruiz (NSF-PRISM Scholar), 2012-13
Lucas Schilder, 2017-18
Tiffany Simon, F07
Sarah Smith, Sp25
Emily Thiemann, Su05
Dan Walker (West Texas A&M), Su04
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