Dr. Laura Schoenle

PHD FELLOW ALUMNI   |   Global Change Center

VT Alumni May 2017, Biological Sciences

Advisor: Dr. Ignacio Moore

Google Scholar   •   schoenle@vt.edu

Laura received her B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University and a M.Ed. in Teaching and Teacher Education from the University of Arizona. She taught high school environmental science and biology courses for four years in Tucson, Arizona. While teaching, Laura was awarded a Partners in Science grant, allowing her to collaborate with a researcher at the University of Arizona, Dr. Gary Christopherson. With the help of high school field assistants, they conducted a study on the relationship between wildfire intensity and the abundance and diversity of montane birds populations. This project inspired Laura to return to graduate school and pursue a career in research.

In fall 2012, Laura joined the Department of Biological Sciences as a Ph.D. student in Dr. Ignacio Moore’s lab. She is interested in the relationships between environmental contamination, physiological stress, and disease. For her dissertation research, she investigated how environmental stressors affect reproduction in a model species, the red-winged blackbird.

Laura defended her Ph.D dissertation in May of 2017 and completed a post-doctoral position at Hamilton College where she worked on an NSF-funded project which investigates how immune function scales with body size in mammals, and collaborates with zoos around the U.S. to conduct the study.  She currently works for the Engineering Learning Initiatives team as the Associate Director for Undergraduate Research at Cornell University.

Last updated April 2024.