West Virginia People

Pat Mazik Unit Leader Email: pmazik@wvu.edu Tel: (304) 293 - 4943

Dr. Mazik received her BS from the University of Mount Union, MS from Univ. of Texas at San Marcos and PhD from the University of Memphis. She has been at the Coop Unit since 1998.

Stuart Welsh Assistant Unit Leader Email: swelsh@wvu.edu Tel: (304) 293 - 5006

From 2000 to present, Stuart has served as the Assistant Unit Leader for Fisheries at the West Virginia Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

Petra Wood Assistant Unit Leader Email: pbwood@wvu.edu Tel: (304) 293 - 5090

Petra joined the WV Unit in 1992 as Assistant Unit Leader-Wildlife. She holds an Adjunct Professor appointment with West Virginia University in the Division of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Becky Nestor University CRU Staff Email: rnestor2@wvu.edu Tel: (304) 293 - 3794

Becky has been the secretary at the WV Unit since Sept. 1999.

Kyle Aldinger Email: kaldinge@mix.wvu.edu

Originally from Hummelstown, PA, I received my bachelor's degree from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007. While at Cal U I developed an interest in ornithology and completed my honors thesis on nest provisioning of ground nesting songbirds. After graduating I began my master's degree at West Virginia University studying singing behavior and breeding ecology of Golden-winged Warblers. As a doctoral candidate beginning in 2010, I have been able to continue research on Golden-winged Warblers, associated avian species, and their habitats. Ultimately with a five year data set on the ecology and management of Golden-winged Warblers in WV, I hope to inform conservation efforts for this species, which is currently being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. My general research interests include conservation biology and anthropogenic impacts on avian populations. In my free time I enjoy ultimate frisbee, birding, hunting, fishing, and backpacking.

Ross Andrew Email: randrew4@mix.wvu.edu Tel: (540) 239 - 0161

I am pursuing a master's of science in fisheries and wildlife resource management at WVU under Dr. Stuart Welsh. I previously graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in fisheries science and have worked with the U.S. Forest Service doing stream inventories and fish passage surveys. My current research focus is natural dispersal barriers for trout in Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

Douglas Becker

Melissa Braham Email: mebraham@mix.wvu.edu Tel: (304) 293 - 0050

Missy received her B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources from West Virginia University. During her fishery endeavors she has had the opportunity to study sauger and walleye interactions on the middle Missouri River, salmon escapement on the Tuluksak River, and ESA-listed suckers on the Klamath River. In her free time she enjoys hiking, fishing, paddling, bicycling, and spending time with friends and family.

Ryan Braham Email: ryan.braham@hotmail.com

Ryan received a BS from West Virginia University in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources in 2004. While attending WVU, he had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects generally using an ecosystem-based approach for the conservation of native freshwater species in the Central Appalachian region. Following graduation, he worked in the Inter-mountain West and the Pacific Northwest focusing on a variety of marine groundfish, anadromous salmonid and freshwater species projects.

Sheila Eyler Email: sheila_eyler@fws.gov Tel: (410) 573 - 4504

Sheila has been a doctoral student through the Coop Unit and the FWS's National Conservation Training Center since 2007. She is an employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Maryland Fishery Resources Office since 1999. Her research project monitored downstream migration of silver American eels in the Shenandoah River in relation to five hydroelectric dams.

Steven Foster Email: steven.w.foster@usace.army.mil Tel: (304) 576 - 3033

Following graduation from Marshall University I worked as a contractor for the U.S. EPA in Cincinnati, OH as a fisheries biologist. In 2001 I took a full time position as a Limnologist with the Huntington District Army Corps of Engineers Water Quality Section. As a limnologist I am responsible for monitoring the water quality of waterways that are impacted or impact Corps of Engineers projects. I am also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Marshall University where I teach ichthyology every other year.

Cassidy Hahn Email: cassidy.hahn@gmail.com

Cassidy received her BS in Biology from SUNY Oswego in 2007 and MS in biology from SUNY Fredonia in 2009. As a PhD student at WVU she will be conducting research on gene expression in fishes from Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

Lara Hedrick Email: larahedrick@frontiernet.net

Lara is a post-doc with research focused on road construction and its influence on aquatic systems. Lara has a PhD degree from West Virginia University and an MS degree from the University of Maryland.

Carlos Martinez Email: Carlos_Martinez@fws.gov

Brian Missildine Email: cohophysh@yahoo.com

Jeremy Mizel Email: jmizel@mix.wvu.edu

For my Master's thesis research, I am examining patterns of bird species composition within pre-SMCRA mineland forest and reference forest in relation to habitat structure and composition. I am also contrasting nest survival of Red-eyed Vireos breeding within mineland and reference forest. I am originally from North Carolina and attended the University of Montana for my undergraduate degree.

Crystal Ruble Email: cruble@mix.wvu.edu

Crystal works at Conservation Fisheries, Inc., in Knoxville, TN, as Hatchery Manager and Senior Field Biologist. She is a graduate of UTK with a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and a second major in Psychology. Her MS degree program focuses on a comparative study of the early life histories of three darters of the Etheostoma maculatum species complex. She is also studying the early life history of the diamond darter.

Jim Sheehan Email: jsheehan06@gmail.com

As a PhD student at WVU, I am studying spatial relationships among forest songbirds. Previously, I worked for the Audubon Society on the Important Bird Areas program.

Ken Sheehan Email: grizzlya22@yahoo.com

Ken previously earned an MS degree from West Virginia University and is now working toward completion of a PhD degree. His research is focused on quantitative methods for stream habitat assessments.

Dustin Smith Email: dsmith42@mix.wvu.edu Tel: (304) 283 - 6235

Dustin Smith is a PhD student focused on a biological monitoring study of Cheat Reservoir in WV, with emphasis on the movements of walleyes and impacts of lake level fluctuations.

Dan Sparks Email: Daniel_Sparks@fws.gov

Nate Taylor Email: ndtaylor@mix.wvu.edu Tel: (304) 771 - 0511

I am from New Martinsville, West Virginia, and graduated from West Liberty University in 2010 with a B.S. in Environmental Science. I am currently pursuing a master's degree while studying black bass on Cheat Lake.

Jeff Thomas Email: jthomas@orsanco.org Tel: (513) 624 - 3683

Jeff is the Biological Programs Manager for the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) in Cincinnati. His research interests include all aspects of large river ecology with a focus on fish community assessments and population dynamics.

Thomas Waldrop Email: t.waldrop@freshwaterinstitute.org