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

Danielle Dillard
Danielle is currently a non-degree seeking student within the WFSC graduate department.  She received her Master's from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She has spent the last several years in southern California where she worked for the USFWS, then for UC Berkeley in the Carrizo Pains National Monument on a long-term ecosystem project.  A current side project involves investigating interactions of the giant kangaroo rat and a trombiculid mite.  She loves playing sand volleyball, hiking, and spending time with her husband and son.

Natalie Hamilton
Natalie is 1st year PhD student, co-advised by Dr. Michael Morrison. Natalie received her master's in Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology from The Ohio State University. While undertaking her MS research, Natalie focused on big-picture evolutionary questions in sea anemones, with a focus on a parasitic lineage. At Texas A&M, Natalie hopes to use her skills as a geneticist to understand patterns of relationships and migration in populations of the Townsend's big-eared bat. Long-term, Natalie intends to use ecological and genetic tools to aid in the conservation and management of at-risk species. Learn more about Natalie here.

Lacie LaMonica
Lacie is 1st year PhD student, and recently graduated with her B.S. from Texas A&M University. Lacie is interested in mammals, parasites, and loves fieldwork and work at the Biodiversity, Research, and Teaching Collections.  Currently, Lacie is leading up a field team in South Texas searching for the elusive Nelson's pocket mouse.

Brittany Kerr
Brittany is a 2nd 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, Currently, Brittany is a supervisor of a pathology lab in Fairbanks, Alaska. 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. Brittany is set to graduate in December 2019.

Emily McCarthey
Emily is a 1st year non-thesis MS student, and received her B.S from Texas A&M University in 2017. She is currently a 7th grade science teacher in Mesquite Independent School District. Emily is interested in focusing her master’s degree on the impact humans have on biodiversity. Her ultimate goal is to receive her doctoral degree in Higher Education and become a college professor.

Leila Siciliano-Martina
Leila is a 4th 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

Emma Dohnalik
Emma is a junior Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences student. Emma has been working in the lab for a year and a half, undertaking a project using morphology to differentiate species of Peromyscus mice found in Texas. Emma also is training in the laboratory and may continue to work in the field on several different projects. Emma recently attended her first academic meeting (American Society of Mammalogists) where she presented some of her research.

Shelby Fischer
Shelby is a recently graduated Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences student. She graduated in December 2019 with a degree in wildlife and fisheries conservation. To gain more experience to reach her goal of working at a natural history museum or zoo, Shelby has joined the Light lab and the Texas A&M University Insect Collection (Department of Entomology) to work on the Terrestrial Parasite Tracker project funded by the National Science Foundation. 

Stephen Fowler
Stephen is a senior Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences student focusing on ecology and conservation. He assisted Lacie in her field work searching for Chaetodipus nelsoni during the summer of 2019. Stephen will begin working at the BRTC to help organize the mammal collection during the Fall 2019 semester as well as assisting in the lab whenever he can. After graduating he plans to attend graduate school to further his understanding of the natural world.

Madeliene Hipp
Madeliene is a senior Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences major. She is currently working with Lacie to help with with lab and field work. After she graduates, Madeliene plans on either working at a zoo, wildlife rehabilitation facility, or helping conserve wildlife. 

​Grace Vielleux
Grace is a junior Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences major and she has been working in the Light lab for the past year on several projects aiming to morphologically differentiate Peromyscus species. After Grace finishes her Bachelor's degree, she hopes to go to graduate school to continue her education. Grace recently attended her first academic meeting (American Society of Mammalogists) where she presented some of her research.

Laboratory Alumni - Postdoctoral Researchers and Graduate Students

Adrian Castellanos, PhD 2019
Adrian broadly interested in understanding species distributions. For his PhD, Adrian focused on a comparative phylogeographic study of mammals across Central America. Relying almost entirely on museum specimens performed ecological niche modeling and advanced distribution analyses using R to test biogeographic hypotheses across Central America. Adrian is currently at  Data Manager at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.

Whitney Preisser, PhD 2019
Whitney is broadly interested in host-parasite coevolution. For her dissertation, Whitney examined parasite communities of cricetid rodents across latitudinal gradients.  During her time at Texas A&M, Whitney dove into the parasite literature, did a lot of field work (in Texas, Nebraska, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico), and performed intensive dissections and specimen preparation for accession into the BRTC. Whitney is currently a post doctoral researcher with Chelsea Wood at the University of Washington.

Bridgett Benedict, MS 2018
Bridgett was a MS student hailing from California. She received her Bachelor's degree in environmental biology from the University of California Davis. For her thesis research, Bridgett explored the phylogeography of the Heermann's kangaroo rat, Dipodomys heermanni. Read more about D. heermanni here. We're happy Bridgett's next step is staying right here at Texas A&M: Bridgett is pursuing a PhD with Dr. Perry Barboza.

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). Nina is currently an educator in South Africa.

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. Aleyda is currently an environmental consultant in southeast Texas.

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 other manuscripts in preparation. Oona is currently a PhD student at the University of New Mexico.

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 resident physician at Sea Mar Community Health Centers in Seattle, Washington.

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 senior architect at CognitiveScale in Austin, Texas.

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, Celeste Wickman, Mary Casillas, Tony Keith, Brianna Mena, Keegan Hottinger, Devon Eldridge, Taylor Duke, Caylie Harris, David Ojeda, Melanie Garduno, Abagail Adams, Shelby Fischer, Corrin Winter, Julia Mendez