Principal Investigator
Ryan W. McEwan, PhD
Professor & Schuellein Endowed Chair
Department of Biology
The University of Dayton
300 College Park, Dayton, OH 45469-2320
Office phone: 1.937.229.2558
Email: ryan.mcewan@udayton.edu
Staff
Anna Pallone (BS)– Lab Manager
Anna was a project leader in the McEwan lab who worked on our NSF-funded project looking at long-term patterns of Larch tree stand establishment in post-fire environments in Siberia. After receiving the Dean’s Summer Fellowship in 2022, Anna spent her summer on campus dating wood samples from a historic log cabin in Carillon Park, practicing dendrochronological techniques. During the summer of 2023 Anna worked full time in the lab supporting field work and continuing her Siberia project. She graduated with her BS Degree in Environmental Biology from the University of Dayton in December of 2023 and joined the lab as a full-time lab manager.
Graduate Students
Lindsey Dewey, (M.S.) – PhD Student
Lindsey completed her BS in Biology at Murray State University in 2020 and her MS in Biology at Southeast Missouri State University in 2023. Her MS focused on how beaver recolonization influenced aquatic insect emergence. As a PhD student Lindsey is now interested in researching secondary succession in post-agriculture fields and how birds affect the dispersal of invasive woody species into natural habitats.
Valerie Thurston – MS Student
Valerie obtained her BS in Environmental Biology in 2022 from the University of Dayton. She briefly worked as a lab technician before beginning her Master’s Program in the fall of 2022. She is now researching old-field succession with a particular interest in native and invasive plant species establishment in post-agricultural fields.
Madelaine Gregory – MS Student
Madelaine completed her B.S in Environmental Biology in 2022 at the University of Dayton. As an undergraduate, she worked as a lab technician and a project leader for a study on mycorrhizal colonization in bur oak seedlings in relation to seeding treatments and soil amendments. As a first year master’s student, Madelaine will be focusing on forest succession in a post agricultural field, with a particular interest in studying the interactions between carbon cycling enzymes, soil nutrients ,and the surrounding plant community.
Maddie’s LinkedIn
Undergraduate Project Leaders
Madelyn Moore
Madelyn is an Honors Student and undergraduate project leader in the McEwan Lab. Her research focuses on understanding the factors needed to facilitated tree seedling establishment during ecological restoration. She is the inaugural Ginny’s Garden fellow here at the University of Dayton, and her work will engage the Ginny’s Garden Greenhouse.
The McEwan Laboratory 