Alumni
The Conservation Sciences Graduate Program (formerly known as Conservation Biology) was established in 1990, and our first MS students graduated in 1992. To date 318 students have received a Conservation Biology MS degree. The first Ph.D. students graduated in 1996, and to date, 253 students have received a Ph.D. from the program. Our alumni include a growing number of leaders in the field of Conservation Biology, filling important roles at universities; in federal, regional, state and local agencies; and in non-profit organizations.
We are in the process of collecting more information on our alumni, and will update this page as more data become available. If you are an alumna/alumnus and have not contributed information on your post graduate activities, please complete the Alumni Survey Form and email your photo to the program at conssci@umn.edu.
Ph.D. Graduates
Name | Year | Advisor(s) | PhD Thesis Title |
---|---|---|---|
Mark Ditmer | 2014 | American black bears: Strategies for living in a fragmented, agricultural landscape | |
Laura J. Phillips-Mao | 2012 |
Diane Larson, Nicholas Jordan |
Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) Invasion &Impacts: implications for management and restoration of woodland herbs. |
Genya V. Dana | 2010 | Anne R. Kapuscinski | Testing Stakeholder Engagement in Ecological Risk Analysis: A Case Study of Genetically Modified Maize and South African Biodiversity. |
David D. Huff | 2010 |
Raymond Newman, Bruce Vondracek |
Examining genetic diversity, outbreeding depression, and local adaptation in a native fish reintroduction program. |
Kelly M. Pennington | 2010 | Anne R. Kapuscinski | Experiments and models to understand gene flow from transgenic fish in different environments. |
Anne M. Cooper | 2009 | Anne R. Kapuscinski | The Ones that Got Away: Resource Overlap and Competition between a Non-native Fish (Oreochromis Niloticus) and Thai Native Species, and Implications for Ecological Risk Assessment. |
Margaret S. Guiney | 2009 |
Robert Blair, Karen Oberhauser |
Caring for Nature: Motivations for and Outcomes of Conservation Volunteer Work. |
Hadas Kushnir | 2009 |
Craig Packer, Stephen Polasky |
Lion attacks on humans in southeastern Tanzania: Risk factors and perceptions. |
Erika R. L. Rivers | 2009 | Philip J. Regal | Framing Ecological Risk: Mass Media Frames in the Monarch Butterfly / Transgenic Bt Corn Case. |
Robert G. Steinmetz | 2009 | James L. David Smith | Ecological overlap of sympatric sun bears and Asiatic black bears in tropical forest, Thailand. |
Christopher L. Burdett | 2008 |
Gerald J. Niemi, David Mech |
Hierarchical Structure of Canada Lynx Space Use and Habitat Selection in Northeastern Minnesota. |
Anthony B. Gamble | 2008 | Andrew Simons | Origins and Diversification of New World Geckos. |
Bhim B. Gurung | 2008 | James L. David Smith | Ecological and Sociological Aspects of Human-Tiger Conflicts in Chitwan National Park, Nepal. |
Olivia E. LeDee | 2008 | Francesca J. Cuthbert | Canaries on the Coastline: Estimating Survival and Evaluating the Relationship Between Non-Breeding Shorebirds, Coastal Development and Beach Management Policy. |
Michelle L. Wieland | 2008 |
Todd Arnold, Tamara L. Giles-Vernick |
Wildlife Conservation in Social, Economic, and Ecological Contexts: Multiple Stakeholders and Extraordinary Resource Value in a Congolese National Park. |
Dawn Kathryn Glaser Patterson | 2007 | Kristen Nelson | Landowner Decision-making, Land Retirement, and Wildlife Conservation: The Conservation Reserve Program and the Reinvest in Minnesota Program in Southeastern Minnesota. |
Anne-Marie Hoskinson | 2006 |
Claudia Neuhauser, Anthony M. Starfield |
Additive Partitioning Reveals Spatial Patterns of Plant Species Diversity in a Sagebrush Steppe. |
Daniel B. Kramer | 2005 | Stephen Polasky | Interdisciplinary Essays in Conservation Biology. |
Mark C. Myers | 2005 |
Stephen Polasky, James L. David Smith |
Endangered Wildlife Conservation in the Neotropics: Lessons and Strategies from Costa Rica. |
Kristen L. Blann | 2004 | Bruce Vondracek | Landscape scale analysis of stream fish communities: lessons from southeastern Minnesota |
Jon R. Rosales | 2004 | George Spangler | Renditions of Progress: United Nations Climate Change Policy and the Values of Tradable Permits. |
Suzanne Savanick | 2004 | Jim Perry | Campus Ecology Bridging the Gap Between Campus Sustainability Efforts and Urban Ecology. |
Kim A. Chapman | 2001 | Peter Reich | Conserving Regional Biodiversity: Role of Reserves, Rural Lands and Surburbs in the Prairie-Forest Transition, Minnesota, USA. |
David C. Evers | 2001 | Francesca J. Cuthbert | Common Loon Population Studies: Continental Mercury Patterns and Breeding Territory Philopatry. |
Thomas E. Fish | 2001 | Dorothy H. Anderson | Landowner Perceptions of Ecosystems Health in Upper Great Lake States Riparian Landscapes. |
David F. Romo | 2001 | Richard E. Phillips | A Computerized Sound Analysis Method for Monitoring Anuran Diversity in the Amazon Basin of Ecuador. |
Mark D. Decker | 2000 | Kendall W. Corbin | Gene Flow And Genetic Structure In A Spatially-Structured Beetle Population. |
Matthew A. Etterson | 2000 |
Francesca J. Cuthbert, Robert M. Zink |
Spatial Ecology and Mating System of a Declining Songbird. |
Paul M. Mayer | 1998 |
Susan Galatowitsch, John R. Tester |
Using Indicators of Community Structure and Ecosystem Function to Assess the Biological Integrity and Recovery of Restored Prarie Wetlands. |
Theerapat Prayurasiddhi | 1997 | James L. David Smith | The Ecological Separation of Gaur (Bos gaurus) and Banteng (Bos javanicus) in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. |
M.S. Graduates
Name | Year | Advisor(s) | Thesis Title |
---|---|---|---|
Brandon M. Breen | 2011 | Francesca J. Cuthbert | Sheep farmers and turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) in the Falkland Islands: From conflict to coexistence. |
Bonnie Sample | 2008 | Robert Blair | Restored Urban Prairies as Habitat for Grassland Birds: If You Build it, Who Will Come? |
Jessica J. Koehle | 2006 | Ira R. Adelman | The Effects of High Temperature, Low Dissolved Oxygen, and Asian Tapeworm Infection on Growth and Survival of the Topeka shiner, Notropis topeka. |
Sara M. Simmers | 2006 | Susan Galatowitsch | Recovery of Semi-arid Grassland on Recontoured and Revegetated Oil Access Roads. |
Margaret S. Guiney | 2005 | David A. Andow | Population Dynamics and Nectar Preference of the Karner Blue Butterfly, Lycaeides Melissa Samuelis (Nabokov) (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae). |
Olivia E. LeDee | 2005 | Francesca J. Cuthbert | Winter Distribution of Piping Plovers on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico: An Analysis of Habitat Characteristics at Major Wintering Sites. |
Jeanine M. Refsnider | 2005 | Andrew Simons | Reproductive Ecology of Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in East-Central Minnesota. |
Grant D. Spickelmier | 2005 | David Fulton | The New Zoo?: Construction and Validation of a Scale Measuring Zoo Visitor Beliefs about the Function of Zoos. |
Jacquelyn N. Bacigalupi | 2004 | Ira R. Adelman | Effects of Estrogenic Compounds on Walleye, Sander Vitreus, Near the Metropolitan Sewage Treatment Plant, Saint Paul, Minnesota. |
Kari A. Jacobson | 2004 |
Diane Larson, Nicholas Jordan |
Smooth Brome (Bromus inermis) Invasions in Restored Prairies: Effects of Native Functional Group Composition and Richness, and Soil Disturbance. |
Robert G. Steinmetz | 2004 | James L. David Smith | The Ecology of Gaur (Bos gaurus) and Banteng (B. javanicus) in Xe Pian Protected Area, Lao PDR and Collaborative Conservation and Monitoring of Wildlife in Protected Areas of Lao PDR. |
Anthony B. Gamble | 2003 |
Jeffrey Lang, Andrew Simons |
Commercial Harvest of Painted Turtles in Minnesota. |
Bhim B. Gurung | 2003 | James L. David Smith | Mapping the Meta-Population Structure of Tigers Throughout Nepal By Establishing a Tiger Monitoring Network of "Village Rangers." |
Mark C. Myers | 2002 | Baird's Tapir (Tapirus Bairdii) Conservation in the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica: Lessons from the Natural and Policymaking Environments. | |
Brent J. Sewall | 2002 |
Diane Larson, Anthony M. Starfield |
Fruit Bat Ecology and Conservation in the Comoros Islands |
David S. Wilsey | 2002 | Kristen Nelson | Business or Pleasure: Factors Motivating Nothern Minnesota Non-Timber Forest Product Harvesters. |
Kristen L. Blann | 2000 | Bruce Vondracek | Catchment And Riparian Scale Influences On Coldwater Streams And Stream Fish In Southeastern Minnesota. |
Emily K. Green | 2000 | Susan Galatowitsch | Effects of Nitrate-N Addition on Wetland Plant Community Establishment and Competition with Invasive Species. |
Jennifer A. Szymanski | 1999 |
Francesca J. Cuthbert, Karen Oberhauser |
Population and Spatial Ecology of the Mitchell's Satyr Butterfly Neonympha m. mitchelli French in Southwestern Michigan. |
Karen G. Schik | 1998 |
Susan Galatowitsch, John R. Tester |
The Impact of Agricultural Land Uses Impacts on Wetland Avian Communities: The Usefulness of Avian Guilds and Evaluation of Inpacts of Different Landscape Scales. |
Richard M. Lehtinen | 1997 |
Susan Galatowitsch, John R. Tester |
Factors Affecting the Distribution of Amphibians in Depressional Wetlands. |
Douglas M. Mensing | 1997 |
Susan Galatowitsch, John R. Tester |
Anthropogenic Effects on the Biodiversity of Riparian Wetlands of Central Minnesota Streams. |
Eric W. Hanson | 1996 | Donald Siniff | Monitoring the Common Loon Population in Minnesota: Assessment of the 1994 and 1995 Survey Results, the Accuracy of Volunteers and Aerial Surveys, and the Power of Detecting Trends. |