people
principal investigator
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Dr. Todd Pierson
email: tpierso3@kennesaw.edu
I'm an Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. CV and Google Scholar
Interested in joining us? If you are a KSU undergraduate student and are excited about gaining some experience with field or laboratory research or a prospective graduate student through KSU's Master of Science in Integrative Biology (MSIB) program, please send me an email. Want to learn more about graduate school in our field? Carson et al. (2021) and Estien et al. (2022) are some resources with good general guidance.
graduate students
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Hailey Wunder
Hailey joined the lab as an MSIB student in Fall 2025 and is studying alternative reproductive tactics in two-lined salamanders.
undergraduate students
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Kamill Thompson
Kamill joined the lab as part of Team Research in Fall 2025 and continues now to contribute to projects about alternative reproductive tactics in two-lined salamanders.
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Alyssa Dance
Alyssa joined the lab in Fall 2025 and is studying temporal variation in the frequency of alternative reproductive tactics.
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Sam Dill
Sam joined the lab in Fall 2025 and is building aquaria for studies of reproductive behavior in two-lined salamanders.
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Cassie Ellenberger
Cassie joined the lab in Summer 2025 and has conducted fieldwork, DNA extraction, and qPCR genotyping of alternative reproductive tactics in Eurycea.
alumni
- Kameryn Kimbrough — Undergraduate researcher (2025–2025). Environmental DNA methods for detecting rare salamanders.
- Fer Montes de Oca Sierra — Undergraduate researcher (2023–2025). Environmental DNA surveys for patch-nosed salamanders. Field surveys for green salamanders. Phylogeography of waterdogs. Spatial variation in the frequency of alternative reproductive tactics.
- Ken Wang — High school / undergraduate researcher (2023–2025). Geometric morphometrics of red and spring salamanders. Phylogeography of Mexican toads.
- Brian Dodson — Undergraduate researcher (2024–2025). Spatial variation in the frequency of alternative reproductive tactics.
- Bridgette Popov — Undergraduate researcher (2023–2024). Reproductive behavior of three-lined salamanders.
- Aarya Gupta — High school researcher (2024–2025). Bioinformatic methods for species delimitation.
- Isabelle Flowers — Undergraduate researcher (2025–2025). Molecular resistance to insect toxins in a local reptile
- Cooper Kework — MSIB graduate student (2023–2025). Spatial and temporal variation in the frequency of alternative reproductive tactics.
- Ilana Reyes — Undergraduate researcher (2025–2025). Behavioral and climatological eterminants of coloration in green anoles.
- Matthew McLendon — Undergraduate researcher (2023–2024). Environmental DNA detection of alternative reproductive tactics.
- Lexi Bailey — Undergraduate researcher (2021–2024). Sexual isolation in two-lined salamanders. Environmental DNA surveys for patch-nosed salamanders. Field surveys for green salamanders.
- Raquel Gonzalez — MSIB graduate student (2023–2024; incomplete). Population genomics of Chamberlain's dwarf salamander.
- Patrick Young — Undergraduate researcher (2023–2023). Geographic biases in salamander records among citizen science and museum databases.
- Allison Vessell — Undergraduate researcher (2022–2023). Salamander body condition and health indexes.
- Zaynab Massenburg — Undergraduate researcher (2021–2023). Sexual isolation in two-lined salamanders..
- Sam Francus — Undergraduate researcher (2023–2023). Molecular resistance to insect toxins in a local reptile.
- Leah Rittenburg — MSIB graduate student (2021–2023). Urbanization and the life history of two-lined salamanders.
- Yatin Kalki — MSIB graduate student (2021–2023). Genetic determinants of alternative reproductive tactics in two-lined salamanders.
- Devan Faddis — Undergraduate researcher (2021–2022). Sexual isolation in two-lined salamanders. Urban ecology of two-lined salamanders.
- Jasmine Brown — Undergraduate researcher (2022–2023). Nanopore sequencing. Alternative reproductive tactics in two-lined salamanders.
- Emma Downing — Undergraduate researcher (2021–2022). Nest-site selection in urban salamanders. Environmental DNA surveys for patch-nosed salamanders. Field surveys for green salamanders.
- Karam Ittayem — Undergraduate researcher (2021–2022). Environmental DNA detection of chytrid fungi in urban streams.
- Kelly-Ann McDonald — Undergraduate researcher (2020–2021). Geometric morphometrics of red and spring salamanders.
- Tyshiona Brandon — Undergraduate researcher (2020–2021). Geometric morphometrics of red and spring salamanders.
- Jadin Cross — Undergraduate researcher (2020–2021). Phylogeography of slimy salamanders
- Jasyme Blake-Sinclair — Undergraduate researcher (2020–2021). Phenology of nesting in two-lined salamanders. Molecular identification of a salamander predator.
- Tyler Schwartz — Undergraduate researcher (2020–2021). GIS mapping of river drainages and salamander phylogeography.