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.
Sarah Rothman
Postdoctoral Fellow
rothmans@umd.edu
I am a community ecologist interested in anthropogenic impacts on ecosystem structure and function. I am especially passionate about environmental research with relevance for resource management, environmental justice, and policy. As a Postdoc, I am continuing the work from my dissertation, researching the relationship between urban vegetation, medically important mosquito species, and microbes across socioeconomic gradients in Baltimore and DC. Previously, as a Master’s student in Penn State University’s Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, I studied wildflower meadow restoration on surface mines. As an undergraduate intern for the National Park Service, I investigated forest understory regeneration in Valley Forge National Historical Park in conjunction with a survey of the white-tail deer population to quantify the impact of a new deer-culling program.
Morgan Hawkins
Master’s Student,
@umd.edu
Griffin Beckley
Undergraduate Student, ENST
gbeckley@terpmail.umd.edu