People

Santiago Ramírez

Professor
Department of Evolution and Ecology

Santiago Ramírez studies the evolution, adaptation, and speciation of plant-pollinator mutualisms. His work includes comparative and population genomics of bees and their associated host plants, phylogenetics, chemical ecology, neuroethology, and natural history of insect-plant interactions. His research includes the evolutionary biology of the charismatic euglossine bees and the intricate associations they have as pollinators of orchids from the Neotropical Region, and the ecological genetics of native and introduced populations of the economically important honey bee, Apis mellifera.

Jeff Ross-Ibarra

Professor
Department of Evolution and Ecology

Jeff Ross-Ibarra and members of his lab study the evolutionary genetics of maize and its ancestral progenitor, teosinte. Maize spread rapidly after domestication, adapting to a wide range of environments. Today maize is grown across a broader geographic breadth than any of the world’s other staple crops, from sea level to altitudes of >4,000m and from deserts to near-flooded conditions. The wild relatives of maize have also adapted to environments varying widely in elevation, temperature, and moisture availability. Thus, maize and its wild relatives provide an ideal model system to understand the genetic basis of adaptation.

Ben Sacks

Adjunct Professor
Director, Mammalian Ecology and Conservation Unit

Ben Sacks and his students use genetic and genomic tools, along with field methodologies, to investigate basic and applied problems in ecology, evolution, and conservation of mammals. General topics include the ecology, evolution, and systematics of carnivores, ungulates, and rodent; endangered species conservation; and application of genomic tools to conservation and wildlife management.

Jay Stachowicz

Distinguished Professor
Department of Evolution and Ecology

Jay Stachowicz is a marine ecologist who examines the causes of patterns biodiversity at the species and genetic level, and the consequences of this variation for the functioning of ecosystems. Current work focuses on California eelgrass ecosystems, examining the interrelationships between plant genetic diversity, animal community ecology, and the microbiome associated with these habitat forming species.

Anne E. Todgham

Professor
Department of Animal Science

Anne Todgham is an environmental physiologist who seeks to understand the molecular, biochemical and physiological mechanisms that underlie an animal’s capacity to cope with environmental change. Her current research program addresses the general question of whether contemporary animals -- mostly California marine and estuarine organisms but also Antarctic fishes -- have the physiological flexibility necessary to buffer the unprecedented rates of environmental change.

Fernanda Valdovinos

Associate Professor
Department of Environmental Science and Policy

Fernanda Valdovinos uses network analysis and mathematical modeling to characterize the structure, dynamics, and function of biological communities, including their responses to species extinctions, invasions, climate change, and fishing. By integrating theoretical and empirical approaches, her research has advanced our understanding of complex ecological networks and generated novel models to predict the responses of biological communities to environmental change.

Rachel L. Vannette

Associate Professor
Department of Entomology and Nematology

Rachel Vannette is a community ecologist interested in understanding and predicting how microbial communities influence interactions between plants and insects. She studies microbial communities in flowers, on insects, or in soil by combining natural history observations with techniques from chemical ecology, microbial ecology and community ecology. Her work includes applied problems with an immediate application, for example pathogen control or how to landscape to support pollinators. Other questions may not have an immediate application but are nonetheless grounded in theory and will contribute to basic knowledge and conservation.

Andrew Whitehead

Professor
Department of Environmental Toxicology

Activities in the Whitehead lab revolve around research in environmental, ecological, and evolutionary genomics. Whitehead and his students seek to understand how genomes integrate cues from, respond to, and are shaped by the external environment. Research includes genomic responses to natural and human-generated stress that occur over physiological timescales (acclimation responses) and over evolutionary timescales (adaptive responses), using genome expression profiling, population genetics/genomics and phylogenetics, and physiology. Whitehead has both a basic science angle to research, and also an applied angle that leverages genomic information to diagnose and solve environmental problems.

Louie Yang

Professor
Department of Entomology and Nematology

Louie Yang works to develop a temporally explicit view of ecology that examines how ecological communities combine complex, coordinated and changing interactions over time. He's particularly interested in the effects of climate change and global warming on plant-insect interactions.

Two young men under a canopy smiling as they hold a medium sized sturgeon horizontally

Lars Anderson

2026 Cohort
Northern Michigan University, Class of 2027
EEWL: Andrew Whitehead lab

In addition to a full summer of EEWL research, Lars presented a poster at the International Congress on the Biology of Fish, where he found many many kindred souls. He has returned to northern Michigan and now is making plans for advanced study.

Faculty