Current Members
Jessica Corman, Principle Investigator
Jessica is an Assistant Professor in the School of Natural Resources (SNR) and a Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute Faculty Fellow. Prior to joining UNL, Jessica was a post doctoral fellow at the Center for Limnology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Emily Stanley. She received her PhD from Arizona State University under the mentorship of James Elser. Before embarking on her graduate studies, Jessica delved into the world of science policy at the National Science Foundation, working with the Ecosystem Science and LTER programs and on the Interagency Working Group for Scientific Collections. Her passion for science began at Cornell University, where she was an undergraduate researcher with Alex Flecker and Laurie Drinkwater. Jessica also enjoys hiking, biking, and photography. Download her CV here. |
Chad Petersen, Data Manager
Chad joined the STOICH project in February, 2022. He has a BS and Master’s in Physics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Chad is interested in developing user-oriented data and software tools to solve emerging research challenges. His main efforts will involve design, maintenance, and training for the STOICH database & API. |
Alan Warden, Research Technician
Alan grew up in Colorado spending his free time skiing, hiking, fishing and cycling. After graduating from the University of Colorado-Boulder in December 2021, where he earned a EBIO degree and minors in Geology and Classics, he worked full time in the Deane Bowers chemical ecology lab researching novel trophic interactions determined by phytochemistry, pathogen infection, and parasitoids. That research brought him out to western Massachusetts doing field fieldwork at Harvard Forest and Vermont. He’s excited to join the ES Lab and explore Nebraska. |
Carly Olson, Postdoc, 2022 -
Carly hails from Minnesota but received her BS from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and her PhD from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. Her love for water has been shaped by each of these experiences. Lincoln is the fourth stop on her circular tour of the Midwest. In her research, she aims to connect across biological scale, from organisms to ecosystems, to enhance our understanding of how freshwater ecosystem function is responding to global change drivers such as eutrophication and climate change. To do this, she uses a combination of field observations, manipulative experiments, and process modeling to develop questions and test hypotheses regarding patterns in ecosystem function. Much of her research has focused on linking the limitation-status of phytoplankton to ecosystem-scale processes such as lake metabolism and carbon sequestration. She looks forward to incorporating more community ecology in her ecosystem-focused work. |
Daniel Gschwentner, PhD student, 2020 -
Daniel is researching the impact of diverse environmental changes on lake functioning and freshwater ecological communities. In order to reconstruct environmental histories and trajectories of lake functioning, Daniel relies on the study of lake sediment records. He is also interested in GIS, remote sensing, and statistics. |
Uchechukwu Ogbenna, PhD student, 2021 -
Uche has a Bachelor’s and Master's degree in Environmental Technology (Geoenvironmental Technology option) from the Federal University of Owerri, Nigeria. Currently, he is a PhD student in the Ecological Stoichiometry lab specializing in Applied Ecology in the School of Natural Resources. He is interested in understanding how freshwater ecosystems respond to human-induced changes and is a member of the STOICH projects. He enjoys listening to different genres of music when free. |
Jace Miller, PhD student, 2024 -
Jace is seeking a PhD under Dr. Corman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he also completed his Bachelors in Biological Sciences and Fisheries and Wildlife Management. As an undergraduate, he investigated the impacts of aquatic viruses on freshwater ciliate protist populations through the lens of phylogeny and body size. As a graduate student, he continues to investigate the ecological roles of aquatic viruses, particularly their impacts on phosphorus cycling, biogeochemistry, and food webs. As a part of the STOICH project, Jace hopes to apply his work with viruses in the context of ecological stoichiometry. |
Reilly Farrell, MS student, 2021 -
Reilly is a master's student interested in the factors controlling carbon breakdown in streams as part of the StreamNet and STOICH projects. Through his graduate degree, he hopes to learn how ecological research can demonstrate principles that allow for better preservation and rejuvenation of ecosystem services. As a transplanted Georgian, he is also interested in learning more about the Great Plains region, both ecologically and socially. Reilly loves cooking, biking, and just sitting around being a vegetable sometimes. |
Josh Matthews, Environmental Science undergraduate, ARD Undergrad Research Scholar, 2023 -