Dr. Viorel Popescu, Associate Research Scientist (v.popescu@columbia.edu; download CV here and Resume here). I am broadly trained ecologist and environmental scientist, who accidentally fell into conservation biology and never looked back. I love herps, like to cuddle with large carnivores when I get the chance, and spend a lot of time (maybe too much time) doing stats. As a native Romanian, I work on conservation issues in Eastern Europe (mainly large carnivores). I enjoy spelling trouble for grad students, teaching conservation and ecology classes, and working with conservation practitioners.

Graduate students (at Columbia University):

Lucy Holland, MA student, 2022-present (lch2156@columbia.edu): spatial ecology of translocated European Bison in the Romanian Carpathians. Lucy is from the UK and has a passion for conservation in human-modified European landscapes. She works closely with colleagues at Foundation Conservation Carpathia in Brasov, Romania to develop resource selection functions using GPS collar data for European Bison introduced in Fagaras Mountains.

Dani Pergola, MA student, 2023-present: behavioral ecology of Eastern Hellbenders

Jared Kannel, MA student, 2023- present: large carnivore ecology and interspecific interactions in the Romanian Carpathians

Thomas Cooney, MA student, 2023-present: bird richness and abundance in urban parks (with Audubon Society)

Graduate students (at Ohio University):

Matthew Kaunert, PhD student, 2017-present (mk235207@ohio.edu; currently Director of the Clean Water Institute at Lycoming College, Pennsylvania): Eastern hellbender conservation and ecology. Matt received his B.S. in Biology from Allegheny College in 2011 and his M.S. in Biology from Georgia Southern University in 2013. His  research interests include conservation biology, disturbance ecology, and herpetology, His dissertation focuses on Eastern hellbender conservation in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Courtney Silver-Peavey, PhD student, 2019-present (cs600418@ohio.edu): carryover effects of pesticide exposure on amphibian behavior and dispersal. Courtney is fascinated by frogs, and her MSc research at California State University at Chico investigated vocalization of a frog species at the core of substantial conservation efforts in California, the Foothills Yellow Legged Frog. Courtney is actively involved the reintroduction program for this species. Courtney is conducting experimental work looking at behavioral effects of neonic pesticide exposure in larval amphibians, as well as pesticide accumulation in soil

Sam Mathes, MSc student (2022-present; mathes@ohio.edu): ecological and physiological effects of altered water quality on hellbender larvae. Sam is a full-time lab tech in the Kopchick lab at Ohio University and is passionate about melding his genomics and physiology lab skills with experiments and fieldwork to advance hellbender conservation.

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Former lab members:

Dr. Marissa Dyck (2018-2023) – PhD in Biological Sciences, Ohio University

Dr. Cassandra Thompson (2016-2022) – PhD in Biological Sciences, Ohio University; (current position: Assistant Professor at Lees-McRae College, Banner Elk NC)

Ryan Brown (2020-2022) – MSc in Biological Sciences, Ohio University (current position: Biologist at Pheasants Forever and USDA-NRCS, Montoursville PA)

Dr. Mihai Pop (2015-2019) – PhD at University of Bucharest, co-advised with Dr. Laurentiu Rozylowicz (current position: Senior Scientist at Association for Biodiversity Conservation, Romania)

Dr. Ruben Iosif (2015-17) – Postdoctoral researcher, hierarchical wildlife modeling (current position: Senior Scientist at Conservation Carpathia Foundation, Romania)

Dr. Florina Stanescu (February-June 2018) – Fulbright postdoctoral researcher, amphibian development and climate change (current position: Research Associate, Ovidius University, Constanta)

Heidi Bencin – MSc (2016-2018) – bobcat occurrence and co-occurrence with coyotes, and road mortality risk in Ohio (current position: wildlife researcher, Ohio University)

Marcel Weigand – MSc (2016-2018) – impacts of roads on Eastern Box Turtles in Ohio (current position: Northeastern Ohio Conservation Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy)

Eva Garcia – MSc student intern (University of Montpellier, France; March-August 2018) – road mortality in turtle populations

Madeline Kenyon, HTC Biological Sciences – Honors Thesis: Developing monitoring protocols for beavers in Ohio (current position: MSc student at Tufts University, MA)

Andrew Connolly, Ohio Honors Program – Honors Thesis: Anuran community occupancy dynamics in Wayne National Forest (current position: MSc student at Trent University, Canada)

Sanketh Menon, OHIO Biological Sciences major (current position: The Nature Conservancy, Indiana)

Julia Golias, OHIO Wildlife and Conservation (current position: Biologist at US Forest Service)

Kyle Brooks, OHIO Wildlife and Conservation (current position: Public Affairs Officer at US Forest Service, Wayne National Forest, OH)

Helena Littler, OHIO Biological Sciences major (hellbender ecology research assistant)

Sarah Romer, OHIO Wildlife and Conservation (hellbender ecology research assistant)

Mackenzie Rich – HTC Biological Sciences 2017, Honors Thesis: Interactions between terrestrial carnivores in SE Ohio (current position: Biologist at California Fish and Game)

Ryan Wagner, OHIO Wildlife and Conservation 2020 – Honors Thesis: Snake road mortality hotspots in SE Ohio (current position: PhD student at Washington State University, Vancouver)

Megan Sweeney, OHIO Environmental Biology 2020 – Honors Thesis: Effects of Imidacloprid on larval wood frog behavior (current position: District Technician at Madison Soil and Water Conservation District, OH)

Andrew Travers, OHIO Wildlife and Conservation 2020 (hellbender ecology research assistant)

Christine Hanson, OHIO Environmental Biology major 2020 (hellbender and bobcat ecology research assistant)

Noah Skinner, OHIO Wildlife and Conservation major 2020 (hellbender ecology research assistant)