MEET THE LAB

I am a graduate student as the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Science at Montana State University. Originally from Minnesota, I received my B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies from St. Olaf College. Although I have a deeply ingrained appreciation for bodies of water thanks to my home state, my research interests center around grassland and rangeland ecology and the role that remote sensing can play in furthering our understanding of their functions and biodiversity across spatial and temporal scales. In my free time you can find me searching out one of the aforementioned bodies of water, hiking and backpacking, crafting, biking, or with my nose in my latest reading obsession. Name pronounced (Kay-lee Dee-muh-ray)

I am a graduate student in MSU’s Land Resources and Environmental Sciences Department. In 2023, I graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, with a B.A. in Environmental Studies. I spent the subsequent year working in a variety of field positions across the U.S., focusing on rare plants, desert birds, and forest health. Growing up in Minnesota’s Northwoods afforded me opportunities to learn about our environment and provoked questions about our changing ecosystems- ideas I plan to explore in the Schweiger Lab. My research interests center on the physiological drivers of plant resilience and the applications of remote sensing for monitoring plant and community-level responses to disturbances in our changing climate.

I am PhD student in Land Resources and Environmental Sciences at Montana State University, where I study the movement ecology of large herbivores in African savannas and woodlands using animal tracking data, field-based vegetation sampling, and remote sensing. I am interested in how herbivores both shape and respond to bottom-up processes, and how these feedbacks influence top-down interactions and broader ecosystem dynamics. My dissertation work leverages NASA’s EMIT imaging spectroscopy mission to map forage quality and quantity across landscapes. I also use GEDI spaceborne LiDAR to characterize vegetation structure and examine how habitat architecture influences herbivore movement, predator space use, and broader savanna community dynamics. I completed an MSc at Yale University and worked as the Savanna Research Lead at the Center for Ecosystem Restoration in Kenya. As a Kenyan conservation scientist, I am especially interested in research that supports protected area management, rangeland conservation, and the long-term persistence of ecological and biocultural diversity and resilience in African ecosystems.

I am an undergraduate from Eagle River, Alaska studying Conservation Biology and Ecology with a minor in Soil Science. I have worked with several labs within the Department of Land Resources and Environmental Science, investigating herbicide over-application, herbivory relationships, and most recently soil health indicators including enzyme activity of soil amendment and herbicide treated soils. My work with the Schweiger lab involved the extraction of microbial DNA from the endosphere and exosphere of sugar maple leaves in collaboration with the Walk lab for the ACER project. My interests are in ecological restoration and bioremediation, and I enjoy getting outside on public lands climbing, hiking, biking, and backpacking in my free time.

I am an undergraduate at MSU in the College of Agriculture studying Environmental Science. I am originally from Missoula MT and grew up recreating in our national forests and public lands. I believe that understanding and protecting the earth is among the most important issues today. I will be using spectroscopy to differentiate plant species and also explore the importance of different wavelength regions for species differentiation. In my free time you can find me outside backpacking, ski touring, mountain biking and enjoying a good cup of coffee.

I am an undergraduate student in the Department of Earth Sciences studying Geography, with an emphasis in physical geography and a minor in water resources. I am originally from Idaho and enjoy spending time outdoors, which has strongly influenced my academic interests. I am particularly interested in ecology and the spatial distribution of life across landscapes. My research experience includes using spectroscopy to develop models for predicting soil and rock geochemistry from plant spectral data. In my free time, I enjoy rock climbing, cooking, skiing, and traveling. 

I am a Postdoc in the Department of Biogeochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology and collaborate with the Schweiger lab on microbial questions. My research interests generally revolve around community assembly, symbioses, and biogeochemistry (and wherever these intersect). I conducted my PhD work centered around the longitudinal study of coral-microbe symbiosis over hourly timescales in the Stewart Lab in the Department of Microbiology & Cell Biology at Montana State University. My current toolkit includes field collection and processing of molecular samples in rustic conditions and subsequent bioinformatic analyses of marker genes, de-novo genomes and gene expression. I love a good bike ride, road trip, beach day, or knitting.