People: Faculty
Sagan Friant
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Evolutionary anthropology of human health, disease ecology, nutrition, socio-ecological systems, bushmeat hunting, Nigeria.
David Geiser
Professor of Mycology
Genomics of fungi, applied to the evolution of plant and animal disease, toxin production, and beneficial roles. Fungal phylogenetics and population genetics, especially in Fusarium, and sequence-based identification tools. Identification of unique pathogen-specific genomic regions in pathogens, and diagnostic markers.
Sarah Goslee
Adjunct Associate Professor of Agronomy, USDA-ARS
Landscape diversity in agricultural areas; Taxonomic and functional diversity and grassland management; Multivariate and spatial analysis for ecological data.
Christina Grozinger
Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Publius Vergilius Maro Professor and Huck Scholar of Entomology
Genomics of social behavior and health in bees
Sara Hermann
Assistant Professor of Arthropod Ecology and Trophic Interactions
Kevin Hockett
Huck Early Career Chair; Associate Professor of Microbial Ecology
Biological Control, Biology and Ecology of Plant-Microbe and Plant-Environment Interactions, Microbial Ecology and Population Biology Faculty
Peter Hudson
Former Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Willaman Professor of Biology
Population dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife and the dynamics of parasite community structure.
David Hughes
Huck Chair in Global Food Security; Professor of Entomology and of Biology
Parasite manipulation of host behavior
Seogchan Kang
Professor of Plant Pathology & Environmental Microbiology
Genetic and cellular mechanisms underpinning plant-fungal interactions with Arabidopsis thaliana and Fusarium oxysporum as a model system. Molecular genetics and comparative genomics of fungal plant pathogens. Bioinformatics.
Jason Kaye
Chair, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry
Ecosystem ecology; global change biology; biogeochemistry of nitrogen and carbon cycling in managed and unmanaged ecosystems.
Margot Kaye
Professor of Forest Ecology
Vegetation dynamics; global change ecology; interactions among vegetation, climate and human land use; dendrochronology; disturbance history; environmental change.
Jason Keagy
Assistant Research Professor of Wildlife Behavioral Ecology
Cognitive ecology (with studies at genome, individual, and species levels). I am particularly interested in applications for solving wildlife management problems
Armen Kemanian
Professor of Production Systems and Modeling
Agricultural Systems, Agricultural and Natural Systems Modeling, Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling, Bioenergy Systems, Coupled Hydrologic and Nutrient Modeling, and Plant Competition
Tracy Langkilde
Penn State Interim Executive Vice President and Provost; Dean of the Eberly College of Science; Professor of Biology
The interface of ecology and evolution to understand how an organism's traits are matched to its environment and responds to novel selective pressures imposed by global environmental change, and the consequences of this adaptation.
Jesse Lasky
Associate Professor of Biology
Ecological and evolutionary genomics, genetic and ecophysiological basis of adaptation to environmental stress, evolutionary ecology of biological complexity.
Laura Leites
Research Professor of Quantitative Forest Ecology
Adaptation to climate in forest trees, seed movement under a changing climate, forest ecosystem modeling.
Margarita Lopez-Uribe
Associate Professor of Entomology
How environmental change and human management shape bee health and long-term persistence of their populations in agricultural areas.
Jennifer Macalady
Director of the Ecology Institute; Professor of Geosciences
Microbial interactions with earth materials: soils, sediments, solutes, atmospheric gases, minerals, and rocks. Early evolution of Earth’s biosphere, including photosynthesis and sulfur cycling. Microbial ecology, environmental omics, microbial biogeography.
Erika Machtinger
Associate Professor of Entomology
Veterinary entomology, including vector-borne diseases. Focus is on ecology and behavior associated with host-parasite interactions to improve or develop new control methods.
Carolyn Mahan
Professor of Biology (Altoona)
The study of biodiversity in threatened ecosystems, the effects of human-modified landscapes on wildlife, and behavioral ecology of sciurids. Dr. Mahan teaches introductory biology, environmental studies, field ecology, and evolution.