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College of Agriculture, Life, & Physical Sciences

NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Graduate Assistants

Graduate students with a Thesis will partner with the Borderlands Research Institute (BRI) to work alongside faculty mentors for their research. They design studies, collect and analyze data, and contribute to answering important questions.

Learning extends far beyond the classroom with BRI. While traditional lectures and coursework provide a strong foundation, some of the most meaningful educational experiences take place in the field. Whether traveling remote ranch roads, working on open fields, or conducting research on a mountainside, students engage in discoveries that leave a lasting impact on their academic and professional development.

The Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands provide one of the world’s most diverse outdoor classrooms. From monitoring mammal and avian activities and migration patterns to evaluating rangeland health and ecosystem function, students gain invaluable hands-on experience working directly with the region’s natural resources and landscapes.

Hailey Barton

Hailey Barton

MS Student

Project: Competition, and disease risk to desert bighorn at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area

Advisor: Drs. Carlos “Lalo” Gonzalez & Justin T. French

Emily Blumentritt

Emily Blumentritt

MS Student

Project: Livestock Tanks for grassland birds

Advisor: Drs. Maureen G. Frank

Emilie Brochon

Emilie Brochon

MS Student

Project: Using passive acoustic monitoring to estimate Montezuma quail density in the Trans-Pecos

Advisor: Dr. Ryan Luna

Caitlin Camp Pappas

Caitlin Camp Pappas

PhD Student

Project: Assessing transboundary movements of black bears in southwestern Texas

Advisor: Drs. Louis A. Harveson and Amanda Veals Dutt

Kendall Christensen

Kendall-Christensen

MS Student

Project: Restoration of Oil and Gas Pads in Desert Grasslands

Advisor: Drs. Carlos Gonzalez, Silverio Avila, Antonio Cantu

Luke Christensen

Luke Christensen

MS Student

Project: UAV and GPS Applications for Understanding Scaled Quail Habitat in the Chihuahuan Desert

Advisor: Drs. Carlos E. Gonzalez, J. Silverio Avila S. and Antonio Cantú

Asia Cornelius

Asia Cornelius

PhD Student

Project: Exploring mycorrhizal dynamics in grazed ecosystems

Advisor: Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez, Maureen G. Frank, and Justin T. French

Jason Crosby

Jason Crosby

MS Student

Project: Comparing precision and scale-transferability of rangeland monitoring methods for grassland restoration in the Trans-Pecos, Texas

Advisor: Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez and Justin T. French

Andrew Dotray

Andrew Dotray

MS Student

Project: Movement behavior and competition of aoudad and mule deer following removal of aoudad

Advisor: Drs. Justin T. French and Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez

Shelby duPerier

Shelby duPerier

MS Student

Project: Distribution of high-elevation owls in the Davis Mountains, Texas

Advisor: Dr. Maureen Frank

Jesse Ellgren

Jesse Ellgren

MS Student

Project: Wildlife Population and Community Trends along the U.S.-Mexico Border: American Black Bear (Ursus americanus)

Advisor :Dr. Amanda M. Veals Dutt and Dr. Louis A. Harveson

Sarah-Jane "SJ" Gilbert

Sarah Jane ‘SJ’ Gilbert

MS Student

Project: Long-term vegetation change under rotational and continuous grazing in the Marfa grasslands

Advisor: Drs. Carlos ‘Lalo’ Gonzales, Silverio Avila, Clifton Albrecht

Eliana Goodwin

Eliana Goodwin

MS Student

Project: Evaluate responses of plant and insect communities to various mowing regimes at Fort Davis National Historic Site

Advisor: Dr. Maureen G. Frank

Ty Goodwin

Ty Goodwin

MS Student

Project: Exploring Vegetation through Remote Sensing Methods, Reworking Forage Species Selection, and Challenging Harvest Efficiency Standards.*

Advisor: Dr. Carlos Gonzalez-Gonzalez, Dr. Fidel Hernandez, Dr. Bonnie Warnock*

Jake Gowdy

Jake Gowdy

MS Student

Project: Modeling

Advisor: Dr. Louis Harveson

Olivia Gray

Olivia Gray

MS Student

Project: Dietary overlap and temporal resource partitioning of desert bighorn sheep, aoudad, and mule deer in the Van Horn Mountains, Texas

Advisor: Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez and Justin T. French

Gray Hancock

Gray Hancock

MS Student

Project: Developing monitoring methods to assess the effectiveness of hydrology improvements to retain topsoil using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Advisor: Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez, Justin T. French, and Kevin Urbanczyk

Matt Hewitt

Matt Hewitt

MS Student

Project: Understanding recolonization efforts of black bears in the Big Bend region

Advisor: Drs. Louis A. Harveson and Warren Conway

Christian Lewis

Christian Lewis

MS Student

Project: Using Drones to Compare Differences of Vegetation Structure in Response to Rotational and Continuous Grazing Systems

Advisor: Drs. Carlos Gonzalez, Silverio Avila, and Antonio Cantu

Halli Lovell

Halli Lovell

MS Student

Project: Identifying scalable algorithms for measuring brush impacts on pronghorn habitat at ecoregion scales

Advisor: Dr. Justin French

Bryce Mann

Bryce Mann

MS Student

Project: Mapping and modeling wetland availability in the Chihuahuan Desert

Advisor: Dr. Antonio Cantu

Will Quarles

Will Quarles

MS Student

Project: Migratory Game Bird Overwintering Habitat Assessment Project

Advisor: Dr. Dan Collins

Maggie Rector

Maggie Rector

MS Student

Project: Impacts of Drought and Competition on Mule Deer in the Trans-Pecos Region, Texas

Advisor: Dr. Justin French

Hayley Shultz

Hayley Shultz

MS Student

Project: Fine-scale habitat use and survival of scaled quail associated with seasons

Advisor: Dr. Ryan S. Luna

Elle Sutherland

Elle Sutherland

MS Student

Project: Space use and disease risk in desert bighorn sheep

Advisor: Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez and Justin T. French

Audrey Taulli

Audrey Taulli

MS Student

Project: Treatment of woody invasive plant species in native grasslands and grassland avian community response

Advisor: Drs. Maureen G. Frank and Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez

David Tonnessen

David Tønnessen

MS Student

Project: Using passive acoustic techniques to monitor a sensitive gamebird species (Montezuma Quail)

Advisor: Dr. Ryan S. Luna

Madi Vastine

Madi Vastine

MS Student

Project: Evaluating spatial memory as a driver of black bear resource selection, and movement patterns

Advisor: Drs Louis Harveson, Justin French and Amanda Veals-Dutt