I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Saint Mary's College in Notre Dame, IN. My research focuses on evolutionary transitions in animal structure and function related to environmental change.
I completed my Ph.D. at Clemson University in the Evolutionary Morphology and Biomechanics Laboratory of Dr. Richard W. Blob. My work focused on identifying biomechanical drivers of morphological change in limb bones associated with secondary aquatic transitions, using turtles as a model. Prior to joining the Blob lab, I completed a M.Sc. in the Gifford Lab for Ecology, Evolution, and Physiology at the University of Arkansas- Little Rock (now relocated to the University of Central Arkansas). My research in the Gifford Lab focused on thermal acclimation responses of metabolism and swimming performance in the Ouachita dusky salamander, Desmognathus brimleyorum (Family: Plethodontidae). Outside of academia, I enjoy hiking, gardening, bread-making, canning, making wine, and time with good friends and family. |
Current Students |
Emily SierakowskiJanuary 2021 - Present
I joined the lab as a first-year biology student and research assistant in Spring of 2021. I have helped with several of the human kinematics projects and my senior comp will explore relationships between post-recovery knee flexion and ACL repair method. I hope to find answers that can help people strengthen their knees and prevent injuries, and in the future I hope to develop a less invasive surgerical method to repair torn or damaged ACLs.
|
Alison WoodwardSeptember 2021 - Present
I joined the Locomotion Lab as a second-year biology major (Fall 2021) on the pre-med track. I have Dr. Young’s team with the studies on knee and shoulder function. My senior comp project will look at knee function at different stages of the menstrual cycle in college-age women. I plan on using the knowledge I gain from this research to one day become an Orthopedic Surgeon and help people recover from injuries.
|
Jenna Bowman September 2021 - May 2023
Jenna joined the lab with an interest in injury prevention and injuries in athletes. Her project examined back muscle activation during bilateral and unilateral squats.
After graduation, Jenna enrolled at the University of Maryland to pursue a Master’s degree in forensic medicine. |
Lucy Chamberlin September 2021 - May 2023
Lucy's project examined differences in knee flexion when landing a jump on hard vs. fluid (sand) substrates.
Following graduation, Lucy took a gap year during which she worked on the Acute Rehabilitation Unit at her local hospital. She plans on attending Physicians Assistant school after the year is over. |
Hana LarkinsFebruary 2021 - May 2023
Hana conducted her senior comp work in Emily Carrington's lab at Friday Harbor Laboratories in the San Juan Islands. She studied mussel gaping behavior and mechanics.
Hana plans to take a gap year following graduation, and will apply to Ph.D. programs in Fall 2024. |
Mohra AndersonDecember 2020 - May 2022
Mohra's research examined shoulder muscle activation patterns in string musicians with and without a history of shoulder injury.
Mohra will be entering the University of Notre Dame's ESTEEM Master's program in the Fall of 2022. Mohra now works as an analyst on Pioneer, DaVita's operations innovation team in Denver, CO. She currently helps with potential pilot projects for DaVita's dialysis clinics and is looking to become a certified personal trainer to continue her interest in Kinesiology. |
Adrienne Calistri-Yeh June 2021 - May 2022
Adrienne's research focused on flight dynamics in pregnant and non-pregnant bats. She also assisted Hannah and Valerie with their work investigating tail length and alarm vocalizations in squirrels in summer 2021. Adrienne presented her research at the 2022 Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) conference in Phoenix, AZ. Adreinne's work was co-advised by Dr. Laura Kloepper and Dr. Young.
Adrienne completed a biomedical engineering degree at Northwestern University in spring 2022. Following graduation, Adrienne joined the Conservation and Coexistence Group at the University of Michigan for her Master’s. She is studying the impact of human activity on large mammal spatial ecology to assess conservation policy for wildlife reserves in Alaska. |
Valerie Eddington May 2021 - May 2022
Valerie's project examined the acoustic behavior of fox squirrels in response to varying threat levels. Valerie presented her senior comprehensive research at the 2022 SICB annual conference in Phoenix, AZ. Her research was co-advised by Dr. Laura Kloepper's and Dr. Young.
Following graduation, Valerie joined the Ecological Acoustics and Behavior Lab and the Quantitative Marine Ecology Lab at the University of New Hampshire for her Ph.D. She is developing acoustic methods to monitor the population size and phenology of dense aggregations of bats and colonial seabirds. |
Hannah NicholsDecember 2020 - May 2022
Hannah's project focused on tail morphology in male and female fox squirrels. This study was designed in collaboration with alumna Shaylee Smith, and used data from Kamryn and Hannah's 2019 field season, as well as new data collected during the 2021 field season. Hannah presented her senior comprehensive research at the 2022 SICB annual conference in Phoenix, AZ.
Following graduation, Hannah plans to pursue her Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. |
Alok AgwickDecember 2019 - December 2021
Alok joined the lab as first-year student and started out as a research assistant (Spring 2020). She worked with Dr. Young and collaborators at Missouri S&T to examine publication timelines for authors with different gender and ethnic identities.
Alok changed her major to Psychology and Sociology in Fall 2021 and will be pursuing other research interests in her new field. |
Micaela EnrightDecember 2019 - May 2021
Micaela's project continued and expanded the preliminary dataset from Alli's and Madeline's studies. She measured left knee flexion angles of female students at Saint Mary's College who have and haven't sustained an ACL injury.
Following graduation, Micaela entered Indiana University's School of Public Health to pursue a Master's of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology. Micaela currently works with the St. Joseph County Health Department as a Disease Investigation Specialist. She investigates communicable and reportable diseases in St. Joseph County, work in collaboration with the state health department, and provide education to patients. |
Megan SaundersMay 2019 - May 2021
Megan's project used morphological data from limb bones of museum specimens to compare limb bone scaling patterns of Cryptodire and Pleurodire turtles.
Megan is finishing up her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree at Duke University. She will graduate in May 2024 and take the board exam in July. She plans to work in acute care, geriatrics, or outpatient orthopedics. |
Megan WillAugust 2019 - May 2021
Megan compared hip angles (Q-angles) in college-age women with and without a history of serious knee injury.
Megan now works as a registered nurse on the neurosurgical intensive care unit at Georgetown University Hospital. She takes care of patients with various conditions from strokes to brain bleeds to brain tumors to infectious brain diseases. |
Shaylee SmithDecember 2019 - December 2020
Shaylee compared tail length in male and female fox squirrels (Sciurus niger). This study used data collected from Kamryn and Hannah's 2019 field season and was presented at the 2020 SICB annual meeting. Shaylee's senior comprehensive work generated a review paper that was published in Integrative and Comparative Biology.
Shaylee conducted research at the UNDERC-East program in the summer of 2021 adn interned at Humane Indiana Wildlife following graduation. She has also continued working with Hannah Nichols and Dr. Young. Shaylee plans to apply to Master's programs in Wildlife Biology. |
Hannah GamsDecember 2018 - May 2020
Hannah's project focused on obesity in urban mammal populations by examining body mass of fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) with relative distance from the Saint Mary's College dining hall. Data collection for Hannah's study was conducted in conjunction with Kamryn’s project in Summer 2019. Hannah presented her senior comprehensive research at the 2020 SICB annual meeting in Austin, TX.
Hannah attended the Zilber School of Public Health at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee to pursue a Master’s of Public Health in Fall 2020. She studied epidemiology and intends to pursue a Ph.D. in epidemiology following her Master’s. |
Madeleine MauckDecember 2018 - May 2020
Madeleine studied at knee and hip flexion angles of college-age women with and without a history of serious knee injury.
Madeleine pursued a Masters of Science degree in Global Health at the University of Notre Dame in the fall of 2020; her thesis examined in health needs throughout the world. |
Kamryn YergaSeptember 2018 - May 2020
Kamryn's project compared body mass of male and female fox squirrels (Sciurus niger) from the Saint Mary’s College campus. This project is expected to provide pilot data for additional studies on squirrel locomotor performance and biomechanics, morphology, and physiology.
Upon graduation Kamryn took a gap year and worked in pharmaceutical research. She plans to apply to Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine and eventually work with "Doctors Without Borders" to bring women’s healthcare to underserved areas. |
2019 |
Ellen JohnsonNovember 2017-May 2019
Ellen compared tail morphologies and swimming performance in redback salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) and blue spotted salamanders (Ambystoma laterale) in different water flow rates.
After graduation in 2019, Ellen went to the Flathead Reservation in Montana to participate in the UNDERC-West program, a continuation from last summer's UNDERC-East program. She conducted research on grasshoppers and learning about the local ecology. Ellen now works in a greenhouse for BASF in Memphis, TN, using introgressive hybridization to genetically modify cotton for farms around the world. |
Mary Kate StarnerNovember 2017-May 2019
Mary Kate's project was a continuation of Dr. Young’s Ph.D. research. She specifically studied limb bone scaling patterns in Emydid turtles to identify whether differences in limb bone morphology exist among Emydids with diverse ecological habits. Mary Kate's senior comprehensive work was published in the Journal of Herpetology !
Following graduation, Mary Kate moved to Indianapolis, IN to work as a Clinical Study Technician at IUPUI in the Department of Radiology & Imaging Sciences. She now resides in Phoenix, AZ and works as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute. |
Alli SweeneyNovember 2017-May 2019
Alli's project measured the knee function among college-age women with and without a history of knee injury in the Saint Mary’s College community.
Alli' graduated from the Physician's Assistant (PA) program at Dominican University in December 2022. She now works as an Orthopedic Surgery PA with Illinois Bone and Joint Institute, alongside a busy orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and MAKO robotic assisted joint replacements. |