Contact me if you are a Hope College undergraduate student interested in gaining experience in aquatic-focused research. Students excited to do lab, field work, and/or a mix of both lab and field work are welcome to contact me! Also, note that I have a tab called “Code” that walks you through the steps to learning R, which is an important skill in any kind of research endeavor. If you are interested in joining the lab, please check the website and think about what topic is most aligned to your interests and goals. Please contact me and we can chat about opportunities!
Check out our most recent “day in the life of” post in our lab’s new instagram! We are fortunate to have Cecilia (Cc) Shaffer who is an Environmental Science major with a Biology concentration (Fall 2024 - present), Emily Drape who is a Biology major and French minor (Summer 2026 - present), and Claire VanTol who also is a Biology major and Environmental Science minor (Summer 2026 - present; and our Biology Club vice-president!) as our SHARP-CASL 2026 cohort! This summer our eDNA research is supported by the Global Water Research Institute, Hope College Biology Department and Michigan Space Grant. We also thank Michigan Sea Grant for partly funding last year’s research as part of their Environmental Internship program. We are grateful for the Lake Sturgeon conservation efforts our partners at the Outdoor Discovery Center’s naturalist team, Matt Diana from Michigan DNR and Maria Scarborough from Gun Lake Tribe do. Anna Forney recently joined our team this summer (Biology major and Spanish minor; Summer 2026 - present)! Anna was awarded an Environmental Research Grant from Pierce Cedar Creek Institute earlier this Spring! In this incredible program, undergraduate students get training in wildlife biology while conducting research at a leading biological station in Michigan (1h30min from Holland). Calla Vandehaar-Johnsen is a Biology major who joined earlier this year (Spring 2026 - present) and is now leading the Lake Tanganyika cichlid behavioral research in the lab. Calla got training in South Africa’s marine ecology earlier this summer & now is an intern with Hope Sustainability office. Meet and chat with us at our Hope College booth at this year’s 26’ Macatawa Water Festival.
Kam Bice graduated this Spring 2026 with a Biology major and Environmental Science minor (Fall 2024 Fall 2025) and kick started the Lake Tanganyika cichlid behavior project spending hundreds of hours analyzing footage recorded using underwater cameras. Anissa Wille - Environmental Science major (Fall 2025 - Spring 2025) also worked using Lake Tanganyika footage of daffodil cichlids to study their affiliative vs agonistic behaviors (i.e., cooperative vs aggressive) and is thrilled to start her Master of Science Environment + Sustainability at University of Michigan this summer! Terryn Ferguson is 1-st year student and a Neuroscience major (Spring 2026) who also contributed to the analysis of the species in the Lake Tanganyika underwater footage. Maximus Rose (Biology major) conducted a neat and labor-intensive Summer 2025 SHARP research project on factors driving multi-species groups in Lake Tanganyika using underwater footage.
Annalise (Annie) Waldron graduated this Spring 2026 with a Biology major (Spring 2025 - Summer 2025). During her time in the lab, Annie was awarded a NOAA - Michigan Sea Grant Environmental Internship in Spring 2025 to support her work as part of the eDNA project and her account of the experience was included in Michigan Sea Grant’s blog here. Also helping with the eDNA project were Lucas Day, another recent Hope College graduate (Fall 2026) in Biology (Fall 2024). All the students in the two previous cohorts of my Aquatic Ecosystems course and teaching assistant Emma Yonker (Fall 2024 & Fall 2025) were instrumental in our eDNA research project. Last but not least, was Charlene Yen Xin Chia a Biology major who strengthen her bioinformatics skills analyzing fish genomic data over the summer (SHARP 2025).