Alumni
Rachel Watts
Rachel was a Master's student from Houston, TX. She received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Brigham Young University, graduating in 2019. She has a deep love of the earth and strives to be the best steward she can be. During her undergrad, she began working in BYU's Watershed Ecology lab and became interested in the pollution of mountainous watersheds. This led her to pursue a Master's degree in Watershed Sciences with Dr. Brahney to learn more about nutrient pollution and mitigation measures. Rachel did her Masters research on how the disturbance of riverbed armor during high flow events affects the mobility of phosphorus during monsoon and snowmelt seasons in New Mexico streams. She graduated in the Spring of 2023. When she is not conducting lab analyses or doing fieldwork, she loves to go for long walks, mountain bike, read, and rock climb. |
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Jiahao Wen
Jiahao comes from Sichuan province, China. He received his BS in landscape architecture from Sichuan Agricultural University and MS in landscape architecture (ecology) from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in China. Jiahao has broad interest in global change ecology, limnology, geography, eco-design, public health. His past research focused on the use of plants in gardens and plant nutrients strategies in subtropical ecosystems. With Dr. Brahney, he studied the influence of the dust on lake ecosystems in the west of USA. Specifically, He examined the chemical constituents of the dust and their bioavailability and how they change community plant structure and zooplankton. He likes travelling, cooking, photography and PC games. You can find him at Researchgate and Google Scholar |
Zhen Xu
Zhen was a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Watershed Sciences of Utah State University (USU) working with both Dr's Brahney and Belmont. Originally from Zhengzhou, China, he holds a BSc degree in Environmental Studies from the College of Idaho, a MSc degree and a PhD in Renewable Natural Resources from Louisiana State University. He studied cycles of carbon and oxygen across diverse aquatic ecosystems and their interactions with other substances and organisms before beginning a postdoc at USU. His research at USU focused on sediment source fingerprinting and its application in large-scale landscape conservation and restoration. Zhen is also a great fan of swimming and kayaking in his spare time. |
Macy Gustavus
Macy successfully defended her Master’s thesis in August 2022. In the Brahney Lab, Macy examined microplastic pollution from headwaters to urban environments in northern Utah. Macy is from New Baltimore, a small town in Michigan located on the shores of Lake St. Clair. She graduated from Oakland University, receiving a B.S. in Environmental Science with a specialization in Environmental Health and Safety. Prior to moving to Logan, she worked in an independent water testing lab and developed a passion for Public Health. When not working, Macy loves to run with friends, hike, take long walks, write letters, catch up with friends and family, and to do anything in/around water. |
Eileen Lukens
Eileen completed her master’s degree project comparing hydrograph separation techniques with uncertain end-member composition in 2022. She was co-advised by Dr. Janice Brahney and Bethany Neilson. After taking a year off to backpack and explore the national parks of the western United States, Eileen plans to follow a career in hydrologic modeling |
Mark Devey
As a native of the Utah Lake and Jordan River watersheds, Mark was excited to work on his MS developing a method that could help us understand the ecological history of those water bodies. Specifically, he worked with Dr. Janice Brahney to study the relationship between phosphorus inclusions in calcium carbonate precipitates and the concentrations of phosphorus in the water where the carbonates crystallize. The objective of understanding this relationship is to use calcium carbonate precipitates in sediment cores to reconstruct the history of phosphorus concentrations in calcareous lakes such as Utah Lake, which could inform watershed nutrient management decisions. Mark is currently working for the State of Washington sampling lakes for the EPA National Lakes Assessment survey. |
Deni Murray
Deni Murray has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Washington. She received her M.S. degree in 2019 from USU in freshwater biogeochemistry and ecology working with Dr. Brahney. Her M.S. project quantified beaver pond retention of C, N, P, and heavy metals using a mass balance approach, and also examined the differences in beaver pond geomorphic units on the sediment nitrogen cycle. Deni has been a Freshwater Ecologist at Ryder Environmental in New Zealand for the past 2 years, where she uses water quality monitoring data from across the country to provide technical advice for resource consent hearings and applications. Deni is currently in a Ph.D. program in watershed biogeochemistry at University of New Hampshire with Dr. Adam Wymore. Her project will focusses on how atmospheric deposition influences biogeochemical fluxes and cycles. |
Jessica Scholz
In the EBPL Jessica worked on prospective causes of high elevation lake eutrophication. She successfully defended her thesis in May of 2020. Jessica is currently a Research Specialist in the Limnology Lab at the University of Missouri |
Lindsay Capito
Lindsay completed her master's degree in 2020 with Dr. Brahney wherein she identified the relationship between climate induced shifts in stream characteristics and blooms of the benthic diatom Didymo. She is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Padova, Italy, studying fluvial sediment connectivity. |
Niall Clancy
Niall Clancy completed his master's degree in 2019 on a project examining the effects of the benthic algae Didymo on stream fishes in the Kootenai drainage of Montana and British Columbia. He was co-advised by Dr. Brahney and Dr. Phaedra Budy. Niall worked with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks in 2020 before starting a Ph.D. with Dr. Annika Walters at the University of Wyoming in 2021. More about Niall and his current work can be found at www.niallclancy.org |
Austin Bartos
In 2020, Austin Bartos completed his master's degree with Dr. Brahney on examining the dominance of harmful algal blooms in U.S. lakes as well as estimating the risk for cyanotoxin exposure in food crops to humans. Austin is currently a research associate for Michigan Sea Grant at the University of Michigan, and is a contractor for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Great Lakes Aquatic Nonindigenous Species Information System (GLANSIS). |
Leighton King
Leighton King completed her master's degree in August 2019 (co-advised by Dr. Janice Brahney and Dr. Soren Brothers). Her project involved a multi-proxy paleolimnological approach to identify shifts in macrophyte and phytoplankton production, and to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic ecological conditions, in Utah Lake. In January 2020, she started a Ph.D. at Eawag (Switzerland) working with Dr. Blake Matthews and Dr. Ole Seehausen investigating how the zooplankton community composition of Lake Victoria (Africa) has changed throughout the Holocene. |