GEEB’s 2023-2024 Officer Team
President: Jeannette Cullum
Jeannette: Jeannette is a 3rd year PhD student in the Cáceres lab and the Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She studies environmental drivers of fungal disease dynamics in Daphnia and is also interested in science policy and communication. She loves to read fantasy literature and is a board game enthusiast. She also loves sharing stories about her two cats, Obi and Rey!
jcullum2@illinois.edu
New Membership Director: Becky Cloud
Becky: I am a second year PhD Student in PEEC in the Cáceres lab. I am interested in the effects of Wolbachia on the life-history traits of its mosquito hosts. My hobbies include event planning, social media influencing, freestyle dancing, amateur makeup artistry, and casual wine and cheese tasing.
rcloud3@illinois.edu
Treasurer: Jonah Dominguez
Jonah: Jonah is a PhD student in the lab of Jinelle Sperry. His interests cover interspecies interactions, mentoring, avian vocalizations, and ornithology and community ecology broadly. While not doing research his interests include hiking, writing, and fantasy literature.
jonahsd2@illinois.edu
Social and Extracurricular Events Team: Julia Jehn and Grace Tan
Julia: Julia is a second year PhD student who studies plant ecology. She enjoys caring for her house plants, her pets, and her friends. You can find her doing various artsy activities like beading, drawing, painting, sewing, and knitting. She also enjoys athletic activities like volleyball, biking, tennis, pickleball, and hiking with her dog. Julia is good at listening and understanding, but also is known to talk about anything and everything if there is silence in a conversation.
Grace: Hi! I’m Grace, a fourth year PhD student in the Leakey Lab. I only started attending GEEB events last year, but I’m so thankful for the community I’ve found here. I enjoy walking my dog, musical theatre, crocheting, and socializing with my GEEB friends. I love to meet new people, so feel free to reach out if you’d like an introduction into GEEB!
jehn2@illinois.edu and gracedt2@illinois.edu
Outreach Coordinator: Lisa Surber
Lisa: Lisa is a 4th year PhD student in the Fischer lab and the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior. She is generally interested in how organisms receive and respond to biotic & abiotic cues in their environment. She currently studies the dyeing poison frog, a species of poison frog whose tadpoles are aggressive & cannibalistic! She is interested in how the environment in which tadpoles live affects their development and behavior, and how these plastic changes may alter evolutionary trajectories. Lisa’s hobbies include soccer, boxing, painting, board games, thrifting, and taking care of her many pets.
lsurber2@illinois.edu
Symposium Co-coordinators: Roberto Cucalón and Abby Weber
Roberto: My name is Roberto. I am a Ph.D student from Ecuador. I am in PEEC in Dr. Tan’s lab. My research interest focuses on understanding evolutionary relationships of populations of freshwater fishes with uncertain species boundaries using genomics. When I am not doing research, I love playing music, videogames, and watching tv-shows.
Abby: Abby is a 3rd year PhD student in the Anderson Evolutionary Biomechanics lab. She is interested in the evolution and puncture performance of parasitoid wasp ovipositors. She is obsessed with her cat, Toof, and likes to cook and run!
rvc4@illinois.edu and aweber8@illinois.edu