GEEB’s 2022-2023 Officer Team
President: Caitlin Bloomer
Caitlin is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Taylor lab with the Illinois Natural History Survey. Her work focuses on the ecological biogeography of North American burrowing crayfish through distribution, diet, and fecundity. She enjoys hiking, cooking, and shaking up a cocktail or two!
bloomer3(at)illinois.edu
Treasurer: Luke Hearon
Luke is entering the third year of his Master’s and hopes to God he’ll finish it before the end of the year, transferring to the Entomology PhD program. He works in Dr. Carla Cáceres’s lab studying the phantom midge, Chaoborus punctipennis, and its interactions with a fungal pathogen of its prey. He has more hobbies than he can be any good at, including guitar, macro photography, and jewelry making.
lhearon2@illinois.edu
Ecolunch Coordinator: Facundo Fernandez-Duque
I’m interested in better understanding the evolution of parental care and the mechanisms that give rise to the diversity of parental care strategies we see in nature. Growing up in northern Argentina, I got to spend countless hours exploring nature and watching animals interact. It always seemed curious to me that some species would invest so much effort into raising their young, while others practically left them to fend for themselves. I’ve never outgrown that curiosity and now I’m hoping to study what drives an individual to allocate time, energy, and resources into an interaction. When I’m not in the lab or working, I like to hike with my dog, cook and read!
facundo2@illinois.edu
Social Coordinator: Faith Hardin (Fall 2022) and Becky Cloud (Spring 2023)
Faith: I am a first year PhD student in the Fischer lab within EEB. My project revolves around the neural underpinnings of parental care and how care giving sometimes switches to the cannibalism of one’s own young. I use the Coquí frog to ask these questions as males fiercely defend, care for, and occasionally cannibalize their eggs. This summer, I collected female and male coquí frogs from the Big Island, Hawaii where they are incredibly abundant and invasive. It was a wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to returning to the island in 2023! I’ve enjoyed settling into life here at the University of Illinois and have been busy getting to know people in the department, playing racquetball, and going on hikes whenever I can.
Becky: I am a first 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 tasting.
fhardin2@illinois.edu and rcloud3@illinois.edu
Extracurricular Events Chair: Mac Chamberlain
I’m Mac and I’m a second year PhD student in the Hauber lab. For my research, I give wild cowbirds radio transmitter backpacks and track their movement patterns in order to ask questions about conspecific attraction, roosting behavior, and social monogamy. When I’m not doing research I enjoy birding, playing dnd with fellow GEEBers, and spending time with my cat Cheese.
maclc2@illinois.edu
Outreach Coordinator: Ratna Karatgi and Jeannette Cullum
Ratna is a fourth year PhD student in the Fuller lab, and in the Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology (PEEC). She studies bluefin killifish and her work focuses on color polymorphism, behavioral syndromes (personality) and sexual selection in these fish. She loves to cook, eat and read (mainly sci-fi right now, but she’s always looking to explore other genres).
Jeannette is a 2nd year PhD student in the Cáceres lab and the Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She studies fungal disease dynamics in the context of multiple stressors in Daphnia. She loves to read fantasy literature and is a board game enthusiast. She also loves sharing stories about her two cats, Obi and Rey!
karatgi2@illinois.edu and jcullum2@illinois.edu
Symposium Co-coordinators: Jeannette Cullum and Kevin Neumann
Jeannette is a 2nd year PhD student in the Cáceres lab and the Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She studies fungal disease dynamics in the context of multiple stressors in Daphnia. She loves to read fantasy literature and is a board game enthusiast. She also loves sharing stories about her two cats, Obi and Rey!
Kevin is a 3rd year PhD student in the Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. He is interested in the ecology and behavior of social organisms, and the impact that environmental changes can have on the structure and functioning of animal societies. This work spans across taxa including multiple urban ant species (Tapinoma, Tetramorium, Linepithema) and three-spined stickleback fish. In his free time, Kevin likes hiking, camping, playing basketball, going to concerts, drawing, and photography.
jcullum2@illinois.edu and kevinn4@illinois.edu
Resource Facilitator: Hannah Darcy
Hannah is a 6th year PhD student in the Anderson Evolutionary Biomechanics Lab in the EEB Department. Her dissertation focuses on the land-to-water transition in two salamander groups and how it has affected their skull morphology and functional performance. She is also a Commercialization Analyst intern in the Office of Technology Management. She enjoys digitally painting fish, hosting the annual Friendsgiving dinner (global pandemic permitting…), and talking about crazy MCU theories.
hdarcy2(at)illinois.edu
Webmaster: Abby Weber
Abby is a 2nd 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!
aweber8@illinois.edu