Miami Web Instructors
Chris Myers
Co-Founder and Director, Project Dragonfly/Earth Expeditions
Chris Myers received his Ph.D. in ecology from Vanderbilt University and is now a professor of Zoology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University. His research areas include community-based conservation, participatory…
Lynne Born Myers
Co-Founder and Co-Director, Project Dragonfly
Lynne Myers received her B. Phil. from the School of Interdisciplinary Studies at Miami University. As a founder and co-Director of Project Dragonfly, she oversees national exhibits, participatory media, and…
Jamie Bercaw Anzano
Director of Communications and Research
Jamie Bercaw Anzano has a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University in journalism, a master’s in environmental science with concentrations in environmental education and public policy from Miami’s Institute of…
Simon Bird
Instructor
Simon Bird is an ecologist and conservation biologist focusing on environmental education and urban conservation. His research and teaching interests center around enhancing community-based conservation through education, land use ecology, urban ecology, invertebrate biodiversity…
Alexali Brubaker
Instructor Alexali
Brubaker earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, in psychobiology. She is fascinated by animal and human behavior at many levels, from the neuron to the community (in both the ecological…
Ramana Callan
Visiting Assistant Professor
Rama Callan is a reintroduction biologist and field ecologist who loves plants and animals and working in remote locations that most people never get to see. Her research interests focus on plant-animal…
Kendra Cipollini
Instructor
Kendra Cipollini earned her B.S. in biology with a minor in chemistry from George Washington University and her Ph.D. in ecology with a minor in statistics from The Pennsylvania State University. She has worked…
Deirdre Doherty
Deirdre Doherty is a conservation ecologist. She completed a master’s at the University of Pennsylvania in conservation biology where, for her thesis, she evaluated how logging practices affected amphibian communities in the Pacific Northwest U.S.
Katie Feilen
Visiting Assistant Professor
Katie Feilen is a primatologist and conservation biologist, who has chased 12 monkey species through the jungles on three continents. As part of Disney’s Conservation Team, she coordinated conservation efforts of the…
Catherine Haradon
Instructor
Catherine Haradon is a biological anthropologist who studies the relationship between environmental change in different regions of Africa and the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens. Trained as a paleoecologist, she uses the identification…
Nick Jacobsen
Instructor
Nick Jacobsen is a conservation social scientist who focuses his teaching and research on understanding human-environment interactions. He completed his B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rice University, and he received his Ph.D…
Kristen Keteles
Instructor
Kristen Keteles received a Ph.D. in biological sciences (zoology) from Louisiana State University and a B.S. in marine science from Coastal Carolina University. Kristen is a toxicologist in the EPA Region 8 Office of…
Shafkat Khan
Visiting Assistant Professor
Shafkat Khan received his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia’s Odum School of Ecology in August 2016. Shafkat completed his B.A. in environmental studies at Goshen College in Indiana. Shafkat’s ecological interest…
Jill Korach
Assistant Director of Field Programs
Jill Korach earned an undergraduate degree in biology from Washington University in St. Louis where she focused on tropical rainforest ecology, a master’s from Miami University’s Institute of Environmental Sciences…
Alicia Lamfers
Instructor
Alicia Lamfers received her MAT from Miami University and her undergraduate degree in biology from Metropolitan State University in Denver. She worked as a paramedic for 6 years in Denver’s inner city neighborhoods until…
Genifer Lara
Instructor
Genifer Lara currently teaches geology and geography at Mohave Community College in Kingman, Arizona. For the past several years, she has been a field instructor for Round River Conservation Studies, a study abroad program…
Kevin Matteson
Associate Director, Master’s Programs
Kevin Matteson serves as an instructor, administrator, and academic adviser for Project Dragonfly. His research looks at the diversity of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators in community gardens and other green…
Nicole McDaniels
Instructor
Nicole McDaniels is an Associate Professor of Biology at Herkimer College in Herkimer, New York. She received her B.S. in Biological Science with a concentration in Cellular and Molecular Biology from the University at…
Judith Metcalf
… received her doctorate from the University of Louisville and her master’s degree from Texas A&M Corpus Christi. Her research interests include human impacts on populations and communities. Her master’s work explored the impact of
Jeannie Miller Martin
… completed her B.S. at Juniata College then earned her Master’s in Zoology in the GFP at Miami University. She managed sea turtle nesting research programs in several states and abroad prior to joining the
Kenneth Willman
… spent 31 years in Research & Development as a scientist and manager at Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, and upon his retirement in 2012 immediately entered the Advanced Inquiry Program as a student. After
Karen Plucinski
Assistant Director/Instructor, Advanced Inquiry Program
Karen Plucinski is the Assistant Director and Instructor of the Advanced Inquiry Program, Project Dragonfly. Prior to this, she was on the biology faculty at Missouri Southern State University and…
Jennifer Price
Instructor
Jennifer Price graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in biology and a minor in environmental sciences. She was fortunate enough to participate in an undergraduate semester abroad program in Queensland, Australia…
Helena Puche
Instructor
Helena Puche is an ecologist who earned her Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Florida, working on the epidemiology of a tomato virus transmitted by thrips, tiny insects that cause devastation in the…
Katy Reagan
Instructor
Katy Reagan is an environmental consultant and owns her own business, Sunbird Biological, which is a small natural resources consulting firm specializing in wildlife biology, permitting, compliance, and GIS. Katy holds an M.S. in…
Jennifer Ress
Instructor
Jennifer Ress earned both a master’s and a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Bowling Green State University where her dissertation focused on the ecology of aerial algae. Prior to her dissertation work, she was…
Deanna Soper-Pinkelman
Instructor
Deanna Soper-Pinkelman received her Ph.D. from Indiana University in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior and currently is a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on the effects of natural and…
Amy Sullivan
Visiting Assistant Professor
Amy Sullivan earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Illinois Chicago where her dissertation work focused on vole foraging and how it affects tallgrass prairie remnants and restorations…
Nancy Sundell-Turner
Instructor
Nancy Sundell-Turner comes from a diverse background with degrees in physics, mathematics and biology. After completing a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Cornell University (focusing on mathematical ecology), she went on to further study…
Carrie Washburn
Instructor
Carrie Washburn received her B.S. in Zoology from Michigan State University and her M.S in Biology from Central Michigan University. Her master’s research involved animal behavior to understand amphibian movement patterns. She also has…
