Little Traverse Band
Ottawa and Chippewa Indians

Rick Damstra and Chris Eilers are both graduate students in the conservation biology program. Rick, holding a juvenile lake sturgeon, is currently a biologist with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. Chris Eilers, using telemetry equipment to locate fish, has accepted a position with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Both students are from Dr. Galarowicz’s lab.

Golden Associates, Inc

AMEC International (consulting)

Ernie was a Biology undergraduate who continued at CMU for a master’s in Dr. Alm’s lab. Ernie worked in collaboration with a scientist at Dow Chemical on microorganisms that could remediate chlorinated solvents. He presented his work at several scientific conferences, including the American Society of Microbiology, and then returned to the meeting the following year as a Promega employee. Ernie was recently promoted at Promega and now manages a 10-state region.

Josh Lallaman and Kregg Smith, both holding adult lake sturgeon, are former graduate students. Josh is currently and instructor and Lake Superior State University and will begin a PhD program at the University of Missouri in June. Kregg is a research biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Kerry Hansknecht and Lisa MacDonald both received an M.S. in biology here at CMU in 2003. Kerry worked with the behavioral physiology of thermoregulation in water snakes on Beaver Island and Lisa worked with the habitat selection in hognose snakes in the Mancelona area. Both students are currently in PhD programs at the University of Tennessee; Kerry in the Department of Psychology and Lisa in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.