Landrey Pruitt (2021–present)
Landrey is a Marine Biology major at SAU. She was born and raised in Cabot, AR. She became interested in marine science from an early age and most enjoys marine conservation. She was recently awarded a grant from SAU to investigate the effects of predator kairomones on swimming and evasion behaviors by a Daphnia lumholtzi. |
Rick Raymondi (2019–2021)
Rick earned his M.S. Biology degree at ENMU in Spring 2021. He graduated from Boise State University in 2016 with a B.S. in Biology with an Ecology emphasis and a minor in GIS. Since 2012, Rick has served in several positions in Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service, mainly as a Fisheries Technician. In these positions, he has contributed to a wide array of field ecological studies and management analysis of sensitive fish species and has gained expertise in GIS applications, data management, and field survey design and implementation. He is generally interested in the effects of human disturbances on fish conservation and management. His research program quantified the impacts of regional climate change and water management on reproduction and early life stages of fishes in the Pecos River, NM. Specifically, he used DNA barcoding to identify drifting fish eggs captured immediately before and after reservoir releases. |
Sara Ricklefs (2018–2021)
Sara earned her M.S. Biology degree at ENMU in Spring 2021. She is originally from northeastern Kansas. In 2013, she received her B.S. in both Animal Sciences and Industry and Agribusiness from Kansas State University. She has long been interested in studying animal reproductive physiology. Her research focused on quantifying passive drift of invasive juvenile crayfish in the Pecos River, NM. She also examined the effects of environmental conditions on red drum, red snapper, and vermilion snapper spawning patterns in the Gulf of Mexico. |
Matt Bazaldua (2018–2019)
Matt was a Wildlife and Fisheries major at ENMU. Matt was born and raised in Corpus Christi, TX, where he became interested in marine science. Matt is generally interested in freshwater and marine ecology, especially fisheries management and zooplankton ecology. He was actively involved in an ongoing drift survey to monitor fish eggs and larvae in the Pecos River near Lake Sumner, NM. Matt also helped design and conduct an experiment to test the effects of a fish predator on inducible defenses in Daphnia pulicaria. |
Jeremiah Olivas (2018–2019)
Jeremiah was a Wildlife and Fisheries major at ENMU. Born and raised in Mora, NM, he was employed by the Mora National Fish Hatchery as a student intern and later as a Biological Science Aid. At the hatchery, he assisted in rearing Gila Trout to restore wild populations of this species, which is listed as Threatened under ESA. Jeremiah aspires to become a fisheries biologist, working at a US Fish and Wildlife Service aquaculture facility. At ENMU, Jeremiah was involved in projects to improve aquaculture production of Channel and hybrid (Channel × Blue) catfish by refining feeding methods during the early life stages. For example, he quantified catfish diets by examining gut contents and using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. He also helped sort larval fishes collected from the Pecos River to identify how environmental factors influence its fish community. |