Principal Investigator

Jessica E. Light
​Jessica is interested in evolution, systematics, and population genetics of vertebrates and invertebrates. She’s particularly interested in investigating cospeciation between mammals and their parasitic lice to determine which factors are important in driving their associations. email: jlight2 *at* tamu.edu

Graduate Students

Adrian Castellanos
Adrian is a 5th year PhD student and his research is focused on a comparative phylogeographic study of mammals across Central America. Relying almost entirely on museum specimens, Adrian is collecting molecular and morphological data from two different mammal species. Adrian will include ecological niche modeling and advanced analyses using R to test biogeographic hypotheses across Central America. 
​email: acastellanos *at* tamu.edu

Bridgett Downs
Bridgett is a 2nd year MS student hailing from California. She received her Bachelor's degree in environmental biology from the University of California Davis. After graduating, Bridgett worked as a technician for the U.S. Geological Survey and the Nature Conservancy, then as a Environmental Specialist and Project Manager for two private companies. For her thesis research, Bridgett will be exploring the phylogeography of the Heermann's kangaroo rat, Dipodomys heermanni. Read more about D. heermanni here. email: bdowns*at*tamu.ed

Brittany Kerr
Brittany is a 1st year non-thesis MS student, and received her B.S. from Texas A&M University in 2014 (with an emphasis in Vertebrate Zoology). Upon graduating, Brittany was hired by the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine in the Pathobiology Department where she remains a histology technician. Brittany is interested in the genetics and evolution of cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus. Long term, Brittany would like to go to veterinary school and would eventually like to work with the Cheetah Conservation Fund. 

Whitney Preisser
Whitney is a 5th year PhD student and she is broadly interested in host-parasite coevolution. For her dissertation, Whitney will be examining parasite communities of cricetid rodents across latitudinal gradients.  To undertake her research, Whitney is diving into the parasite literature, doing a lot of field work (so far, she's collected in Texas, Nebraska, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico), performing intensive dissections and preparing specimens for accession into the BRTC.  email: wpreisse*at*tamu.edu

Leila Siciliano-Martina
Leila is a 2nd year PhD student interested in evolutionary changes in the morphology of mammal species due to anthropogenic drivers. She has a masters degree in zoology from Michigan State University, where she studied maternal relationships and stress behaviors in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis). Prior to joining Texas A&M, Leila was an adjunct biology instructor for Our Lady of the Lake University (San Antonio, TX). Leila’s research is being co-advised by Michelle Lawing (ESSM). email: sicilia77*at*tamu.edu

Undergraduate Students

Mary Casillas
Mary is a senior BICH student interested in scientific illustration. Mary is working at the BRTC doing a smashing job with all things tissue organization and curation.

Emma Dohnalik
Emma is a freshman WFSC student. This semester, she is assisting Leila on a project using morphology to differentiate species of mice found in Texas. Emma also will be undertaking field work on several different projects.

Devon Eldridge
Devon is a senior WFSC student with a side interest in insects. She enjoys working at the collections where she is helping monitor infestations, working in the alcohol collection, and organizing tissues.

Tony Keith
Tony is a WFSC major in the Fightin Texas Aggie Class of 2018. Tony has been helping out in the BRTC preparing scientific specimens; he also will be helping with some field work on pocket gophers. His hopes are to become a professional in the fields of conservation and wildlife management.

Brianna Mena
Brianna is a sophomore WFSC major with a concentration in vertebrate zoology. Brianna has been a rock star in the BRTC, helping with overall curation of mammal specimens. After receiving her B.S., she plans to continue her studies to obtain a DVM in the hopes of becoming a veterinarian at a wildlife rehabilitation facility.

Grace Vielleux
Grace is a freshman WFSC major. Along with undertaking field work in the Light lab, Grace also is working with Dr. Jason Martina on a wetland model to help to better understand how to restore biodiversity in wetland ecosystems. After Grace finishes her Bachelor's degree, she hopes to go to graduate school to continue her education.

Celeste Wickman
Celeste is a senior WFSC student currently working to help re-curate parts of the mammal collection at the BRTC. After she graduates, she will be moving to Alaska. The anticipation of seeing what kinds of wildlife she will encounter and work with is exciting! Celeste and her dog Neptune are looking forward to see what lies ahead in their Alaskan adventure.

Laboratory Alumni - Postdoctoral Researchers and Graduate Students

Nina Heunis
Nina was a postdoctoral researcher in the Light lab. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa. Nina is interested host-parasite co-evolution using rodents and lice as a model system. For her postdoc, Nina worked on the phylogenetics of two sucking louse genera (Hoplopleura and Polyplax) and a population genetics study of Polyplax arvicanthis using next-generation techniques (ddRADSeq).

Aleyda Galán, MS 2016
For her Master's research, Aleyda examined small mammal biodiversity across East Foundation properties in South Texas. Aleyda spent a lot of time in the field, lab, and BRTC collections examining mammalian, ectoparasite, and pathogen diversity across habitat types and East Foundation properties. As a result of her thesis research, Aleyda is expecting to have at least 4 publications (WOW!).

Oona Takano, MS 2016
Oona recently completed her MS degree exploring avian louse diversity across Africa. Her thesis exploree host-parasite associations, identified new species, and hypothesize relationships among avian lice distributed in South Africa, Benin, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Oona has one accepted manuscript as part of her thesis research (see Publications page), and several otehr manuscripts in preparation. Oona is currently a collections assistant in invertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Justin Henningsen
Justin was a postdoctoral researcher in the Light, Voelker, and Hibbitts lab, examining biodiversity across East Foundation properties in South Texas. Justin received his PhD in 2013 in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Massachusetts where he examined whole-organism performance and signals in green anole lizards. Justin is broadly interested in ecology and evolution.

Jaime Rodriguez, MS 2014
Co-advised by Dr. Sarah Hamer in Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M, Jaime completed a field, lab, and analytically intensive thesis examining tick-borne pathogens of southeastern Texas. One publication resulting from this work is already published, and several other publications are in the works. Jaime is now in medical school at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Caitlin Nessner, MS 2014
Caitlin started out as an undergraduate volunteer in the lab and we were happy to have her as a graduate student. For her thesis, Caitlin worked on the population genetics of chewing lice parasitizing pocket gophers. She also pursued several side projects including examining bird louse diversity from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. After working as an instructor in the Biology Department at Texas A&M, Caitlin is now a project manager in the Human Genome Sequencing Center at Baylor College of Medicine.

John Andersen, MS 2012
John began his time in the Light Lab as an undergraduate researcher, working on a phylogeographic and taxonomic examination of the hispid pocket mouse, Chaetodipus hispidus. For his this work, John continued working on heteromyd rodents, concententrating on population genetics and conservation of kangaroo mice (genus Microdipodops).   John is currently a Watson NLP Algorithms Developer at IBM.

Sarah Welborn, MS 2012
For her thesis work, Sarah examined the population genetics of the Baird’s pocket gopher (Geomys breviceps). To undertake this work, Sarah developed 10 polymorphic microsatellite primers for Geomys breviceps; these markers also amplify in other pocket gopher species. Sarah currently holds a position as a Farm Interpreter at Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site (Texas Parks and Wildlife).

Laboratory Alumni - Undergraduate Students
The Light lab has been very fortunate to have had a wonderful group of undergraduate students working in the lab, field, and BRTC.  Many of these students are now in graduate or professional school and many are, or will be, included on peer-reviewed manuscripts. They are all greatly missed!

Past students include (not all are pictured above):
Marcy Ostroff, Jennifer Garner, John Andersen, Caitlin Nessner, Mariana Gonzalez, Samantha (Rosenbaum) Wise, Kamala Lakamsani, Carlos Rodriguez, Chris Sandoval, Michelle Navin, Adrian Castellanos, J.M. Weidler, Josh Olmos, Alicia Byers, Alberto Sanchez, Emily Muehleman, Omar Polio, Lauren Wimbish, Noel Lyon, Steffan Hill, Hudson Berkhouse, Matthew Argo, Melissa Hopkins, Josh Brown, Katelyn Lasater, Hunter Folmar, Preston Mitchell, Sara Stephens, Gabrielle Green, Katie Miller, Ricardo Orozco, Austin Lester, Kelsey Persyn, Ashley Sloan, AnMarie Ulery, Bonner Watson, Rebecca Shine, Ben Anderson