Members
Paul Leisnham
Principal Investigator
leisnham@umd.edu
I have research expertise in socio-ecological systems, mosquitoes, vector-borne disease, community ecology, and invasion biology. I serve as the Department of Environmental Science and Technology (ENST) Director of Undergraduate Studies and regularly teach courses. I supplement my classroom teaching by advising undergraduate students on independent research projects and advising graduate students with their Masters and PhD work through ENST and the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences Program. I am also the instructor of Advanced Ecosystem Health and Natural Resource Management, which is the core course of the ENST graduate specialization by the same name. I collaborate with numerous researchers, extension professionals, and community partners on projects funded by state and federal grants, including those from NSF, USDA-NIFA, EPA-STAR, and NOAA.
Morgan Hawkins
Master’s Student, ENST
mphawk@umd.edu
I’m a master’s student studying how social and environmental factors shape mosquito populations and community-based mosquito control. My thesis examines how different mosquito traps, from simple designs to advanced technologies, interact with neighborhood conditions, resident knowledge, and environmental features in University Park, MD. Using field trapping, source-reduction surveys, community interviews, and bloodmeal analysis, I explore how technology can support long-term, community-led mosquito management. I’m interested in how human behavior, neighborhood environments, and ecological processes influence mosquito abundance, host choice, and disease risk, and how these relationships feed back into one another, while also considering implications for both human and animal health. Before joining the Leisnham Lab, I earned a B.S. in Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics from Towson University and conducted research in conservation genomics, vertebrate regeneration, and sensory ecology, including an internship at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute.
Griffin Beckley
Undergraduate Student, ENST
gbeckley@terpmail.umd.edu