EEB Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Meet the 2025 EEB DEI Committee members
Dr. Lauren Sullivan Faculty Co-Chair of EEB DEI Committee |
Dr. Lauren Sullivan (she/her) is faculty member in the Department of Plant Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. In addition to serving as faculty Co-Chair of the EEB DEI committee, Dr. Sullivan is also an active member of the EEB community and oversees a robust research program. The Sullivan lab uses quantitative (both statistical and mathematical) tools to understand plant movement ecology. Dr. Sullivan is broadly interested in how different global change factors like, habitat fragmentation, nutrient loading, and alterations to global herbivore communities influence plant reproduction and dispersal, and the subsequent consequences of this movement for population and community dynamics. She is especially interested in how this movement influences conservation and restoration ecology. Research in her lab focuses on combining field experiments with theoretical models to develop general understanding about the causes and consequences of dispersal, using statistically rigorous experimental results to create assumptions for general theoretical models that can be scaled in time and space.
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Ben Kline Graduate Student Co-Chair of EEB DEI Committee |
Ben (he/they) is a PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. Ben’s research interests broadly include genomics, adaptation, and conservation biology. Much of Ben’s research focuses on using native trout species as a model for understanding how organisms respond to changing environments across the landscape. Prior to starting at MSU, Ben completed a BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Science at Penn State University and a MS in Biology at Idaho State University. In addition to being a co-chair of the EEB DEI Committee and a former Envision EEB Program Director, Ben is also a member of IBIO Graduate Affairs Committee, the EEB Graduate Group, and the IBIO Graduate Student Organization.
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Carol Waldmann Rosenbaum Envision EEB 2025 Program Coordinator |
Carol (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program at MSU. Carol is interested in water quality and freshwater ecology. Specifically, she researches cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes and studies how various environmental factors and climate change contribute to bloom occurrence, extent, and toxicity. Before joining MSU in 2021, Carol completed her undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences and Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel and received a master’s degree in Conservation Ecology from the University of Michigan, where she studied how stakeholders’ values and attitudes influence their nutrient management policy preferences. Carol is a member of the Culture and Inclusion Committee at Kellogg Biological Station and of the EEB DEI committee, and this year's Envision EEB program coordinator. |
Dr. Louise Mead Department of Integrative Biology Graduate Program Director |
Dr. Louise Mead (she/her) is faculty member in the Department of Integrative Biology and serves as the Graduate Program Director for the department and Education Director for the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Trained as an evolutionary biologist she has a broad range of teaching, research, and administrative experience. Louise started her career as a high school science teacher, obtaining a M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts and then earned a PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology also from the University of Massachusetts. After spending four years as the Education Project Director for the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), she joined the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action at Michigan State University. As Education Director at BEACON for the past ten years, she manages a wide variety of projects focused on interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate training in the STEM disciplines and teaches courses for the Department of Integrative Biology that integrate experiential and active learning.
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Dr. James Moran Faculty Member of the DEI committee |
Jim is a faculty member in the Department of Integrative Biology and Department of Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. He is also the director of the Michigan State University Stable Isotope Core Facility. Most of Jim’s research involves using stable isotope analysis to explore environmental biogeochemistry. Recent foci include tracking nutrient exchange in plant-microbe interactions, evaluating carbon exchange in extremophilic microbial mats, revealing temporal feeding patterns in bears, and tracking the fate and transport of organic environmental contaminants. In addition to being a member of the EEB DEI committee, Jim also serves on the IBIO Graduate Affairs Committee, the EEB Seminar Committee, the IBIO seminar committee, and is chairing the Plant, Soil, Microbial Sciences seminar committee.
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Annabelle McCarthy EEB Graduate Student Member of the DEI committee |
Annabelle (she/her) is an MS student in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. Annabelle’s research interests broadly include restoration ecology, agroecology, and ecosystem services. Annabelle’s research specifically focuses on understanding how butterflies use habitat embedded in agricultural landscapes, and the subsequent consequences to butterfly fitness. Before joining MSU in 2023, Annabelle earned her BS in Biology by attending community college and transferring to California State University, Monterey Bay.
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Dr. Alejandra Martínez Blancas Postodoctoral researcher and member of the EEB DEI committee |
Dr. Alejandra Martínez Blancas (she/her) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Plant Biology and the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior program. Dr. Martínez Blancas’s research focuses on understanding species coexistence and species interactions using a quantitative approach combined with both experimental and observational field data. She is also interested in grassland conservation. In addition to being a member of the EEB DEI committee, Dr. Martínez Blancas is also an IBEEM (Institute for Biodiversity, Ecology, Evolution, and Microsystems) fellow, focusing on the global quantification of competitive ability along resource gradients while while quantifying disparities on where the science is done and who is doing it
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Abby Beilman Graduate Student and member of the EEB DEI committee |
Abby (they/them) is a PhD student in the department of Earth & Environmental Science (EES) and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) program at MSU. Abby's research interests center around the freshwater carbon cycle, with a focus on greenhouse gas fluxes in rivers and streams, as well as drivers of these processes such as phenology and hydrology, using field and laboratory measurements, GIS, and process-based models. Prior to MSU, Abby completed their MS in Environmental Science and Policy - Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation and their BA in Environmental Science - Earth System Science at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where their research focused on drivers of change in chromophoric dissolved organic matter in rivers and streams. Outside of the EEB-DEI committee, Abby is also EEB colloquium co-chair, and the COGS representative for EES GSO.
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Ben Feld Graduate Student and member of the EEB DEI committee |
Ben (He/Him) is a MS student in the Department of Plant Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. Ben is interested in Grasses, Prairies, and conservation, Ben's research is on the Geospatial aspects of grass growth, and what we can learn at the spatial scale. Ben was an Envision EEB fellow in 2023, the skills he learned from that experience and the connections made helped him find a place at MSU in 2024. Before joining MSU Ben earned his BS in Environmental Science from Wayne State University.
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Previous EEB DEI committee members
Dr. Nadya Mamoozadeh Prior Research Specialist and member of the EEB DEI committee |
Nadya (she/her) is a Research Specialist in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program at MSU. Nadya is broadly interested in exploring eco-evolutionary relationships in marine and freshwater fishes and linking resulting insights to fisheries management. In particular, Nadya leverages genomic methods to explore spatiotemporal patterns of genetic diversity in applied conservation and management contexts. She works in a range of systems, from native trout in the Great Lakes to tunas in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In addition to thinking about applied fish ecology and biodiversity conservation, Nadya enjoys time outdoors and with her pets and human family.
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Dr. Zinan Wang Prior EEB postdoc member of the DEI committee. |
Zinan was a postdoc in the Department of Entomology and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. At MSU, he studied how a desert fruitfly species evolved the ability to survive and adapt to extremely harsh deserts. Zinan will start an assistant professor position in the Department of Entomology at University of Kentucky in the fall of 2024. He is broadly interested in understanding the molecular basis underlying the evolution of novel physiological traits in arthropod species and how the evolution of these traits leads to ecological adaptation. His research program integrates interdisciplinary technologies from molecular biology, analytical chemistry, genetics, and computational biology to study arthropod physiological adaptation.
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Emily Conway EEB Alumni and Prior co-chair of the EEB DEI committee |
Emily (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the MSU Plant Biology and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) programs. As an active member of the EEB community, Emily has served in a number of roles in the EEB Graduate Group, including serving as the EEB DEI committee co-chair, the EEB Colloquium co-chair, and as a member of the EEB Awards Committee. In 2019, Emily joined MSU from Rutgers University - New Brunswick, where she majored in Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources and minored in Urban and Community Forestry. While an undergraduate, her research focused on characterizing the plant communities of urban and rural forests and their seed banks. In her graduate work, Emily continues to work in urban plant communities, however, now her work is focused on understanding potential drivers of plant community assembly within the context of ecological restoration.
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