Congratulations to 2024-25 Global Change Fellowship Awardees!

Taylor Fossett

Biological Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kendra Sewall

Taylor studies the effects of urbanization on the neurophysiology and behavior of wild songbirds, particularly focusing on the underlying brain and physiological mechanisms driving aggressive behavior in song sparrows. With the IGC fellowship funds, Taylor plans to advance her dissertation research by conducting intensive field experiments to investigate the causal role of a neuropeptide in aggression. The fellowship will also enable Taylor to colloborate with GCC faculty affilates David Haak and Kendra Sewall on a project where she will look at gene networks that regulate differences in aggression in urban and rural songbirds using transcriptomics. 

Sarah Juster

Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation

Faculty Mentor: Dr. John Munsell

Sarah's research intersects with three global issues: the refugee crisis, deforestation, and climate change. She studies forestry challenges and opportunities in the Imvepi Refugee Settlement in Uganda, focusing on the impacts of deforestation driven by firewood extraction, cropland conversion, and charcoal production. Her project uses mixed-method and participatory approaches to evaluate forestry interventions by NGOs, their household-level impacts, and access to non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for refugees and host communities. Sarah's work aims to improve the lives of displaced people through agroforestry and tree-based interventions, with significant implications for human and environmental wellbeing in distressed regions.

Zoie McMillian

Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Faculty Mentors: Dr. Elizabeth Hunter & Dr. Willandia Chaves

Zoie's PhD research addresses the illegal turtle trade from social and ecological perspectives. Her objectives are to understand the drivers of turtle consumption in the U.S. and globally, and to inform the reintroduction of eastern box turtles into the wild by identifying diseases present in wild Virginia populations. Recognizing the international wildlife trade as a threat to biodiversity and livelihoods, her research emphasizes the importance of demand reduction strategies. Zoie's interdisciplinary approach combines wildlife disease monitoring with social surveys to better understand this complex socio-ecological system, aiming to support intercontinental biodiversity as related to global change.

Amber Wendler

Biological Sciences

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jeff Walters

Amber's research integrates behavioral ecology, physiology, population genetics, and conservation to understand how varying environments and climate change impact bird populations. She focuses on the Puerto Rican Tody, comparing behavior and physiology between rainforest and dry forest populations and assessing genetic variation. Amber is also analyzing 50 years of morphometric data to examine changes in body size in response to temperature and rainfall changes.  This research is vital for predicting how birds might respond to environmental changes and identifying vulnerable populations, especially as climate change and natural disasters, like hurricanes, intensify.