Frederick Lab - Current Students

Rena Borkhataria – Postdoctoral research associate and former PhD student. Rena is broadly interested in animal population dynamics, spatial ecology, community interactions, and the management of endangered species. Her master's thesis addressed the ecological and political implications of conversion from shade to sun coffee in Puerto Rico, and her dissertation was on population and habitat suitability modeling for the endangered wood stork (Mycteria americana) in the Southeastern U.S. She is continuing her work on wood stork population dynamics and habitat modeling for the wood stork as a post-doc, with a focus on the Florida Everglades.

Brittany Burtner – MS student. Britt’s interests center around conservation, population ecology, and behavioral ecology. Her MS research is focused on understanding the social cues, costs and benefits of interactions between nesting wading birds and alligators. When Britt isn’t working, you can find her training for her next triathlon, fixing her boat, playing outside, or eating mint oreo ice cream!

Nilmini Jayasena - PhD candidate. Nilmini's research project involves looking for effects of low level chronic methylmercury exposure on reproduction of white ibises. Her research interests include ecotoxicology, especially effects at population levels; and behavioural endocrinology. Some of her many hobbies are reading, travelling, bird-watching and photography. Her favourite ice-cream is Mayan chocolate ice-cream (it's spicy!). Previous education: BVSc, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Hometown: Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

John Simon – John is the Research Coordinator for the South Florida Wading Bird Project. His main responsibilities include coordinating UF survey efforts with those of cooperating agencies, training seasonal research crew members, scheduling day-to-day fieldwork, and summarizing data. He joined UF in 2004 with over 20 years of field research experience. John has been deeply involved in the development of an unmanned aircraft for wildlife surveys. John has a weakness for deep chocolate brownies and ultralight aircraft.

Louise Venne – Doctoral student. Louise's current work is determining wading bird response to fire in the Everglades. Her interests include contaminants and other disturbances as stressors of wildlife at the community and landscape levels. Her master’s thesis investigated land use effects on amphibian community composition in playa wetlands. - B.S., Wildlife and Chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, M.S., Environmental Toxicology, Texas Tech University.

Ross Tsai – Postdoctoral research associate. I received my MS from National Taiwan University and my PhD from Texas Tech University. I am interested in avian ecology and wildlife habitat relationship, especially in large-scale context. His current project is aimed at understanding changes in landscape features that are associated with long term survival or failure of Wood Stork colonies throughout the southeastern range of the species. I like most outdoor activities, especially birding, which has been my main hobby for 20+ years. I also enjoy photography and playing music. Vanilla is my favorite ice cream flavor.