Current Lab Members
Emily Bernhardt, PI
Marcelo Ardon, Postdoc
Jenn Follstad-Shah, Postdoc
Ben Colman, Postdoc
Liyan Yin, Visiting Fellow
Jen Morse, PhD Student
Elizabeth Sudduth, PhD Student
Alison Appling, PhD Student
Brian Lutz, PhD Student
Brooke Hassett, Technician - Urban Stream Research
Medora Burke-Scroll, Technician - Coastal Plain Research
Andrea Martin, Technician - FACE Project Research
Jackie Burmeister, Undergraduate Researcher
Emily Bernhardt, PI
Emily is a NC native who attended UNC Chapel Hill as an undergraduate. There she gained her first field experiences counting seedings in the Duke Forest, sampling macroinvertebrates in local agricultural streams and experimenting with blue crabs at the UNC Marine Lab. She received her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University in 2001 and held two postdoctoral positions, first at Duke and then at the University of Maryland before beginning her faculty position in Duke's Department of Biology in September 2004. [Click here for Emily's CV]
Jen Morse, PhD Student
Jen has been a graduate student in the lab since fall 2004. Prior to her dissertation research Jen received a masters degree from George Mason University for her work with Pat Megonigal and Mark Walbridge examining N and P cycling in tidal marshes. Her PhD research examines the controls over trace gas (methane, nitrous oxide) emissions from coastal plain wetlands and agricultural ecosystems. Jen is an EPA STAR fellow. [Click here for Jen's CV]
Elizabeth Sudduth, PhD Student
Elizabeth has been a graduate student in the lab since fall 2005. Prior to beginning her dissertation work at Duke Elizabeth received a masters degree from the University of Georgia where she worked with Dr. Judy Meyer examining the effects of urban stream restoration on macroinvertebrate communities. Her PhD research examines how watershed urbanization affects stream carbon cycling. Elizabeth received an EPA STAR Fellowship (2005-2008). [Click here for Elizabeth's CV]
Brooke Hassett, Lab Technician
After completing her master's degree at the University of Maryland where she examined stream restoration activities throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Brooke joined our team and has led our efforts to understand the effects of urbanization and urban stream restoration on stream ecosystem structure and function. [Click here for Brooke's CV]
Alison Appling, PhD Student
Alison joined the PhD program in fall 2006 and is coadvised by Emily Bernhardt and Rob Jackson. Alison's research is examining and modeling the connections between floodplain vegetation dynamics and aquifer nitrogen cycling. Her research is part of the SARON project based at the Flathead Lake Biological Station in Montana. Alison is an EPA STAR fellow (2008-2011). [Click here for Alison's CV]
Marcelo Ardon, Postdoctoral Associate
Marcelo joined the lab in 2006 after completing his PhD at the University of Georgia. Marcelo's research is focused on examining the water quality consequences of wetland restoration in the heavily agricultural coastal plain of NC. Marcelo is a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (2008-2010).
[Click here for Marcelo's CV]
Brian Lutz, PhD Student
Brian joined the PhD program in fall 2007. Brian's research is focused on characterizing the concentrations, content and bioavailability of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in forested streams and understanding the mechanisms that control DON utilization and export. Brian is a NSF Graduate Fellow (2007-2010). [Click here to visit Brian's webpage]
Jennifer Follstad-Shah, Post("ghost")doctoral Associate
Jenn is a NSF Bioinformatics Fellow who is working on applying the metabolic theory of ecology to stream ecosystem functions (secondary production and ecosystem metabolism). Jenn lives and works in Salt Lake City, UT - hence her ghost-doc status. [Click herefor Jenn's CV]
Medora Burke-Scroll, Lab Guru #2
After completing her masters at Villanova University, Medora joined the lab in 2008 to take on the responsibility of running the day to day operations of our DOE funded research project examining the biogeochemical consequences of wetland restoration in the coastal plain.
Andrea Martin, Lab Guru #3
Andrea joined our lab in 2008 and is the lead technician for USDA funded research efforts examining the effects of elevated CO2 on the composition, concentration and biogeochemical consequences of root exudation. Andrea works at the Duke Forest FACE experiment (FACTS-1) and coordinates the fieldwork for this collaborative project (Rich Phillips, Indiana U (PI) and Adrien Finzi and E. Bernhardt coPIs). [Click here for Andrea's CV]
Ben Colman, Postdoctoral Associate
Ben joined the lab in 2009 after completing his PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Ben's research is focused on examining the impacts of manufactured nanomaterials on microbially mediated biogeochemical functions in soils and sediments. Ben's research is funded through the Center for the Environmental Implications of Nanotechnology (CEINT). [Click here for Ben's CV]
Our current crop of "Wunder"grads
Jackie Burmeister, Undergraduate researcher
Jackie has been working in the lab since the summer of 2006. As a freshman she developed a novel experimental setup for adding synthetic root exudates to soils and she continues to refine her approach to understand the effects of root exudate compounds on soil nutrient cycling.
Lab Alumni
Dr. Rich Phillips - former postdoctoral associate, currently an Assistant Professor at Indiana University
Peter Cada - former MEM student, currently a consultant with Tetra Tech
Hayes Neely - former MEM student, currently working for NOAA in Washington, D.C.