Alex Aleixo (Ph.D. 2002, Remsen & Sheldon) Curator, Goeldi Museum, Brazil Molecular systematics, phylogeography, and population genetics of Amazonian birds (Xiphorhynchus).

Brian S. Arbogast (M.S., 1996, Hafner) - Associate Professor, Humboldt State University. Brian studied the phylogeography of flying squirrels at LSU. He received his Ph.D. working with Pete Weigl at Wake Forest University and did postdoctoral research with Jim Kenegy at the University of Washington.

Mark A. Batzer (Ph.D. 1988, Lee) - Mark’s doctoral research involved a molecular analysis of X-ray and chemically induced mutations at the Drosophila alcohol dehydrogenase locus. Currently Mark is the Dr. Mary Lou Applewhite Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at LSU. His laboratory is interested in Comparative genomics, forensic genomics, computational biology and mobile element biology.

Lori Benson (Ph.D. 2002, Fitzsimons) Assistant Professor, University of Tampa. Lori worked on stream fish in Hawai'i while at LSU.

Steve Brewer (Ph.D. 1994, Platt) Associate Professor, University of Mississippi.
Steve studied the effects of differences in fire season on the population biology of the dominant forb in longleaf pine sandhills in north Florida for his dissertation research. He worked with Dr. Mark Bertness at Brown University as a postdoctoral researcher before joining the faculty at Mississippi. Recently, Steve has worked in seepage habitats in longleaf pine savannas of southern Mississippi, focusing on the population dynamics of carnivorous plant species, phenotypic plasticity, nutrient limitation, and fire-mediated species coexistence.

Frank Burbrink (Ph.D. 2000, Rossman & McGuire ) Assistant Professor, CUNY College of Staten Island. Frank studied snake phylogeography while at LSU .

Pauline A. Callinan (Ph.D. 2005, Batzer) - Pauline’s research involved the characterization of the genetic instability associated with Alu retrotransposition mediated genomic deletion as well as the genomic instability associated with Alu recombination mediated genomic instability. Pauline is currently a postdoctoral fellow at John’s Hopkins University School of Medicine

Anthony B. Carter (Ph.D. 2005, Batzer) - Anthony’s doctoral research sorted out the phylogenetic origin and recent mobilization of Y lineage Alu repeats in humans and non-human primates. He is currently the director of paternity testing at Reliagene a Louisiana based forensics company.

Alan Decho {Ph.D. 1987, Fleeger) Professor, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of South Carolina. Alan's dissertation work examined the diets of estuarine animals and lead to an interest in the role of bacterial exopolymers in oceanic systems.

James W. Demastes (Ph.D. 1996, Hafner) Associate Professor, Dept of Biology, University of Northern Iowa. Jim studied host-parasite coevolution while at LSU.

Saara J. DeWalt (Ph.D. 2003, Denslow) Assistant Professor, Clemson University. While at LSU, Saara studied the ecology and genetics of an invasive tropical shrub in parts of its native and introduced ranges.

Paul B. Drewa (Ph.D.1999, Platt) Assistant Professor, Case Western Reserve University. Paul's dissertation research examined the effects of fire regime manipulations on resprouting responses of woody groundcover vegetation in southeastern longleaf pine savannas. He pursued post-doctoral work with the Forest Service in Las Cruces, New Mexico. His lab studies the fire ecology of oak-dominated ecosystems and the effects of deer herbivory on plant responses in fragmented deciduous forests.

Jon Flowers (M.S. 1999, Foltz) Postdoctoral Associate, Stony Brook University. Jon worked on seastar systematics at LSU and went on to do a PhD at Scripps Institution of Oceanography under Ron Burton. His research interests continue to focus on molecular evolutionary genetics, currently in the laboratory of Walt Eanes.

Laura Gough (Ph.D. 1996, Urbatch) Associate Professor of Biology, University of Texas, Arlington.

Elizabeth M. Harris (Ph.D. 1991,Tucker) Elizabeth worked on developmental morphology in the Asteraceae for her thesis. After post-doctoral work at the Smithsonian, she was a faculty member at Esatern Illinois and Curator of the Herbarium at the Ohio State University. She is currently teaching in the Dept. of Biology at the University of Central Florida, and is also the Director of the UCF Herbarium.

Kyle Haynes (Ph.D. 2004, Cronin) Postdoctoral Fellow, Miami University. Kyle's dissertation examined the effects of landscape heterogeneity on herbivore dispersal and spatial population dynamics. Currently, he is working with Dr. Thomas Crist to investigate the roles of dispersal and landscape complexity in metacommunity dynamics in an experimental model system of clover insects.

Huei-Jin Ho (M.S. 2004, Batzer) - Huei-Jin’s research helped to show that preTa LINE elements are homoplasy free genetic characters. He is currently a doctoral student in the school of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University.

Paul Johnson (Ph.D. 1995, Brown) is Director of the Alabama Center for Aquatic Biodiversity. Paul was chief research scientist at the Chattanooga aquarium, and just recently moved to this job to study conservation of prosobranch snails and unionid bivalves in Alabama rivers.

Naoki Kazuya. (Ph.D. 2003, Remsen) Assistant Professor, Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz, Bolivia.

Kristen Keteles (Ph.D. 2001, Fleeger). Assistant Professor, Univ Central Arkansas

Charles Kwit (Ph.D. 2000, Platt) Adjunct Assistant Professor of Botany, Mimai University of Ohio. Charles' current research interests include frugivory and seed dispersal, disturbance ecology, and conservation, restoration, and management.

Jessica Light (Ph.D. 2005, Hafner). Postdoctoral Associate, University of Florida. Jessica studied host-parasite coevolution at LSU.

John McCall (Ph.D. 1992, Fleeger) Chair, Department Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of West Alabama. John's dissertation research looked at the diet of estuarine fishes.

David McClellan (Ph.D. 1999, Hafner). Associate Professor, Dept of Integrative Biology, Brigham Young University. David studied codon-based models of molecular evolution for his thesis and did postdoctoral research with Masami Hasegawa at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Tokyo.

Rob Moyle. (Ph.D. 2002, Sheldon) Postdoctoral fellow, American Museum of Natural History. Molecular systematics of barbets and trogons: pantropical biogeography, African speciation, and issues in phylogenetic inference.

Jeremy S. Myers (Ph.D. 2003, Batzer) - Jeremy’s dissertation research showed that LINE elements were useful tools for the analysis of human population genetics and that they are involved in the repair of DNA damage. Currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Daniel Ortiz-Barrientos (Ph.D.2005, Noor) ­ Daniel worked on the genetics of reinforcement, receiving the 2005 Sandler Award for the best thesis on Drosophila on the planet. He is presently studying the genetics of speciation in sunflowers with Loren Rieseberg.

Anthony C. Otieno (Ph.D. 2005, Batzer) - Anthony’s doctoral research sorted out the phylogenetic origin and recent amplification of pre-Ta L1 elements and Ya subfamily Alu repeats in the primate lineage. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Roswell Park Cancer Center

Susan Pell (Ph.D. 2004, Urbatch) Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Plant Molecular Systematics Laboratory.

Martin Quigley (Ph.D. 1994, Platt) Martin worked on structure, diversity and disturbance in seasonally deciduous forests. After teaching and consulting in Illinois (EIU) and Ohio (OSU), he is currently Director of the Arboretum and Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Central Florida, Orlando.

David Reed (Ph.D. 2000, Hafner) Curator of Mammals and Assistant Professor of Zoology at the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. David studied molecular aspects of host-parasite coevolution. He did postdoctoral research with Dale Clayton at the University of Utah.

Roland Roberts (Ph.D. 2002, Urbatch) Assistant Professor, Towson University.

Alison Styring (Ph.D. 2002, Remsen) Assistant Professor, Evergreen State Univerrsity Alison worked on woodpeckers in SE Asia.

Mike Taylor (Ph.D. 2004, Hellberg) Postdoctoral Associate, Notre Dame. Mike earned his Ph.D. For his thesis, Mike genetically explored systematic relationships and patterns of speciation in the Neotropical goby genus Elacatinus. He is currently a post-doc in the lab of Jeff Feder, mapping speciation genes in Rhagolitis.

Jarrod Thaxton (Ph.D. 2003, Platt) Postdoctoral Research Ecologist, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry in Hilo, Hawai'i. For his dissertation, Jarrod studied the effects of fire intensity on groundcover shrub communities in Louisiana pine savannas. His current research is on the restoration ecology of Hawaiian tropical dry forests.

Bethaney J. Vincent (Ph.D. 2003, Batzer) - Bethaney’s doctoral dissertation research showed that Ta LINE elements are homoplasy free genetic characters. Currently a medical student at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Christopher Witt (Ph.D. 2004, Remson and Sheldon) Postdoctoral fellow, University of California, Berkeley. Rates of molecular evolution and their application to Neotropical avian biogeography.

Jason Weckstein (Ph.D. 2003, Sheldon) Postdoctoral Fellow, Field Museum, Chicago. Systematics and cophylogenetics of toucans and their associated chewing lice.

Jinchuan Xing (Ph.D. 2005, Batzer) - Jin’s research involved the use of mobile elements to determine the phylogenetic relationships of non-human primates. In addition, Jin developed the “Stealth” model for Alu amplification and determined the mutation rate for Alu elements. Jin is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Batzer laboratory until May of 2006 when his girlfriend will receive her Ph.D. from LSU.