Members of our 2015 Honduras Lenca Highlands Expedition reach the peak of Cerro Celaque (left to right: Dr. Townsend, Kayla Weinfurther, Mariah Kenney, TJ Firneno, Alex Hess; not pictured: Mike Itgen, Catie Krygeris, Fatima Pereira).
TOWNSEND LAB ALUMNI
Principal Investigator
Josiah (Joe) Townsend - Associate Professor of Biology
Joe is the Graduate Coordinator for the IUP Biology MS Program, and coordinator of the IUP's summer field course program at the University of Pittsburgh's Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, and a Research Associate of the Section of Amphibians and Reptiles at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. He received his PhD in Interdisciplinary Ecology (2011), MALAS in Tropical Conservation and Development (2006), and BSc in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (2004), all from the University of Florida. He has over 110 peer-reviewed scientific publications and notes, including three books and descriptions of 21 new species, and has been studying herpetofaunal diversity in Honduras since his first fieldtrip in July 1999, with over 30 research trips to Central America over the past 15 years.
Graduate Students
Kathryn Coates
Kathryn graduated from Old Dominion University in 2015 with a BS degree in Biology and a minor in Environmental Issue and Management. Her thesis project is focued on the population genetics and ecological associates on Valley & Ridge salamanders (Plethodon hoffmani) in western Pennsylvania. In 2011, she assisted a PhD student with her research in South Africa collecting behavioral data on partial-captive African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), and in 2014, she spent a semester in East Africa studying African wildlife conservation and conducting undergraduate research with the School for Field Studies. Her research focused on the influence of social patterns on social behavior and activity in African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) within the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, Tanzania. After receiving her undergraduate degree in 2015, she spent a year teaching English as a second language to adults in Boynton Beach, Florida with the Americorps Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. Her research interests include wildlife conservation and ecology, sustainable land-use and development, habitat reconstruction, and conservation education. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and volunteering with local animal rescues.
Kathryn graduated from Old Dominion University in 2015 with a BS degree in Biology and a minor in Environmental Issue and Management. Her thesis project is focued on the population genetics and ecological associates on Valley & Ridge salamanders (Plethodon hoffmani) in western Pennsylvania. In 2011, she assisted a PhD student with her research in South Africa collecting behavioral data on partial-captive African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana), and in 2014, she spent a semester in East Africa studying African wildlife conservation and conducting undergraduate research with the School for Field Studies. Her research focused on the influence of social patterns on social behavior and activity in African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) within the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, Tanzania. After receiving her undergraduate degree in 2015, she spent a year teaching English as a second language to adults in Boynton Beach, Florida with the Americorps Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County. Her research interests include wildlife conservation and ecology, sustainable land-use and development, habitat reconstruction, and conservation education. In her free time, she enjoys traveling and volunteering with local animal rescues.
Chris Garbark
Chris graduated from Duquesne University in 2014 with a B.S. in Biology. He worked as a Biological Science Technician for the USGS in 2016 on an on-going research project on Thamnophis gigas, duties included capturing snakes for abundance and occupancy monitoring & utilizing radio-telemetry to track their location. In the summer of 2015, he worked as an AmeriCorps member with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy on several projects including Hellbender surveys, inventories of un-assessed waters, brook trout habitat assessment, and stream restoration construction. As an undergraduate assisted in research on the effects of chronic stress and the susceptibility to the chytrid fungus in Plethodon shermani. Research interests are focused around the biodiversity and conservation of herpetofauna. In his spare time I enjoy hiking, running, fishing, and being with his dog.
Catherine Krygeris
(co-advised with Dr. Joseph Duchamp)
Catie graduated Summa Cum Laude with her BSc in Biology Education from IUP in 2014, where she completed her Biology Honors research (Morphological systematics of Ptychohyla from the Cordillera Nombre de Dios, Honduras) in the Townsend Lab. She is the first student accepted into the Biology Accelerated MSc Program, and will continue her work in our lab. In 2012, Catie interned at the Argonne National Laboratory in the Environmental Sciences Division, where she helped identify contaminated lands for reuse as solar power facilities. In Summer 2013, she interned at the Oak Ridge National Lab collecting data from different tree species to use in climate modeling. Catie was Miss IUP (2013-14), President of the Sigma Kappa sorority (2013-14), and was very active in community service during her undergraduate tenure at IUP.
Undergraduate Researchers
Esbeiry Cordova-Ortiz
Esbeiry was born in Mexico and emigrated to the United States at the age of eight. She started her education at IUP in the fall of 2015 as a biology for pre-med major, but quickly saw the light and changed her concentration to Ecology & Conservation after she started volunteering in our lab. She plans to continue her education at the graduate level, and is currently working on projects involving the systematics of highland alligator lizards (Mesaspis) and true frogs (Ranidae) in Mexico and Central America. In her free time, she enjoys reading and writing.
Ayla Ross
Ayla started at IUP in the Fall of 2015 as a Biology major and immediately began working in our lab, where she is learning the ropes and has begun to work generating sequence data for a series of projects involving Mesoamerican stream frogs (genus Ptychohyla). She is a member of the IUP SEEDS Chapter. During her free time, she loves taking hikes, kayaking, and catching frogs at nearby ponds. Outside the realm of biology, Ayla is pursing her BCIA certification in Neurofeedback and is the treasurer of the IUP Swim Club.
Samantha Soto
2017-18 Ronald E. NcNair Scholar
Sam is an Ecology, Conservation, and Environmental Biology major who started at IUP in Fall 2014. She has interned at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, working with the reptiles, and is interested in all things herpetological. Sam loves to travel, and has been to Costa Rica and a number of states around the country. She plans to pursue a career studying amphibians and reptiles, and will work on exploring different research opportunities in the lab during her freshman in order to develop a research training plan for her undergraduate education.
Research Associates
Jim Austin, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
Austin Lab Website
Associate Professor
Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA
Austin Lab Website
Jason Butler, MSc
Wildlife Biologist
Aquatic Resources Management
Lexington, Kentucky 40504, USA
Photo website
Ileana Luque-Montes, MSc
Instructor - Foundations of Biology
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260
Larry David Wilson, PhD
Professor (Retired) & Distinguished Scholar
Miami Dade College
Miami, Florida 33176
Centro Zamorano de Biodiversidad
Escuela Agricola Panamericana Zamorano
Depto. Francisco Morazan, Honduras
Professor (Retired) & Distinguished Scholar
Miami Dade College
Miami, Florida 33176
Centro Zamorano de Biodiversidad
Escuela Agricola Panamericana Zamorano
Depto. Francisco Morazan, Honduras
