Principal Investigator
Ryan W. McEwan, PhD
Associate Professor
Environmental Biology Program Coordinator
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
Graduate Students
Sarah Frankenberg (BS), MS Student
Sarah Frankenberg was an undergraduate project leader in the lab, graduating with a BS in Biology in 2015. She worked full time in the lab as a technician that summer and then launched a cross country Ecological Odyssey. She worked as a technician in the laboratory of Dr. Kelly Dorgan at Dauphin Island Sea Lab. Then worked as a Biological Science Technician focused on vegetation at Yellowstone National Park. Finally, she made her way to Lake Mead where she worked at Song Dog Native Plant nursery. Sarah made a triumphant return to the lab as a graduate student in Summer of 2018! Her MS research focuses on plant-fungal relationships and how they drive plant community dynamics in the Siberian Arctic. Yep, the SIBERIAN ARCTIC. This project is part of our funded NSF project and Sarah will be an RA on the project through 2020.
Michaela Woods (BS, MS), PhD Student
Michaela Woods completed her BS in Biological Sciences at Wright State University in 2016 and her MS in Biological Sciences (December 2018) also at Wright State University. During her MS Michaela focused on soil ecology in relationship to Amur honeysuckle invasion in Dr. Megan Rua’s lab. As a PhD student in the McEwan Lab Michaela is aiming to investigate the interconnections between soil biology, plant invasion and ecological restoration in Midwestern Forests. She is particularly interested in collaboration with the Five Rivers Metroparks which manages 16,000+ acres of natural areas in the Dayton Area.
Michaela’s Publications: LINK
Meg Maloney (BS), MS Student
Meg was an undergraduate project leader and honors student in the lab who graduated with her BS in Environmental Biology and then headed to California to spend a year living in the redwoods and working as a naturalist educator (LINK). She rejoined the lab to work on a MS project focused on ecological restoration and habitat management in relationship to the invasion biology of Callery Pear. Her time at UD is 50% funded by the Hanley Sustainability Institute and she will also be working on a regional #resilience plan.
Undergraduate Project Leaders
Grace Attea
Grace is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who has taken on a number of important responsibilities. She is currently working on a project focused on callery pear invasion and is also leading a data management project with the City of Dayton Water Department. Grace is interested in fungi, soil processes and ecological restoration.
Katie Hickle
Katie is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is working with the Five Rivers Metroparks and is interested in forest ecology. She is engaged in a on project that assesses the efficacy of reforestation as part of ecological restoration in Sugar Creek Metropark.
Woods, M.J., M. Cobb, K. Hickle and R.W. McEwan. 2019. Assessing the efficacy of seedling planting as a forest restoration technique in temperate hardwood forests impacted by invasive species. Forests 10: 699. Open Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/f10080699.
Joe Juodvalkis
Joe is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is engaged in multiple projects. He has been a stalwart field helper on Michaela Woods’ dissertation research and is also helping lead laboratory assays. In addition he is co-leader of a project that seeks to ascertain the mammalian fauna of the Environmental Research Area at Old River Park and has, on occasion, taken secret photographs of a coyote named Scott.
Michelle Little
Michelle is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is doing an Honors Thesis focused on how Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) influences stream macroinvertebrates. She spent time as the Environmental Biology Program Intern and is a member of the UD Pep Band.
Natalie Merline
Natalie is an Undergraduate Project Leader in the lab who is leading a project focused on urban forests and socioeconomic status in the city of Dayton.
