Current Graduate Students
Below are the individuals in our lab who are currently working towards earning Masters, PhD, and/or DVM.
Sebastian Ortiz, PhD Student
Sebastian has a background on environmental studies and biology. He was part of a study that compared the biodiversity of the Everglades natural and agricultural lands and human-made wetlands in South Florida. He also spent a summer tracking mammals in remnant tracts of the Atlantic rainforest in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Through these experiences he saw first hand the interconnection between human activity and nature as well as the power of the individual to influence the outcome of these interactions. Sebastian is pursuing a PhD in Integrative Conservation and believes in using an interdisciplinary approach and analyzing different points of view to find ways to balance relationships between humans and the natural world. He enjoys being in nature and sharing time with family and friends.
Jorge Rojas Jimenez, PhD Candidate
Jorge is a Costa Rican Associate Researcher & Wildlife Veterinarian at the Costa Rica Wildlife Foundation (CRWF). Through the tapir interdisciplinary conservation project -Nai Conservation-, he conducted his veterinarian thesis research related to Baird's tapir (Tapirus bairdii) fecal bacteria antibiotic resistance. In 2019, he enrolled to the Integrative Conservation (ICON) PhD program through Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources, with Dr. Hernandez as his major advisor (former tapir researcher). Currently, Jorge is a PhD Candidate who is developing his research where he aims to: 1) understand tapir distribution, movement and habitat preferences at a fragmented landscape of the Tenorio-Miravalles Biological Corridor (TMBC) by deploying camera traps and outfitting tapirs with GPS radiocollars, 2) describe the relationships between key stakeholders and tapir conservation, and to 3) apply mitigation strategies -electric fencing and natural repellents- to reduce human-tapir conflicts at TMBC. Jorge is devoted for team work and to contribute to tapir conservation at local communities through community-based solutions at TMBC.
Julia Silva Seixas, DVM & PhD Student
Julia is a DVM-PhD dual degree student in Forestry and Natural Resources. She received a BS in Biology at Penn State and an MS in Forestry and Natural Resources at UGA. Her MS research focused on examining the productivity of urban white ibis and nestling West Nile virus and Salmonella dynamics. For her PhD, Julia is studying movement and resource selection of urban ibis fledglings, white stork nestling diet across a landfill use gradient, and cross-cultural human perceptions of urban wading birds to understand how these birds can eventually be considered nuisances. Julia is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and she likes to exercise, travel, and spend time outdoors. Her research interests include urban wildlife ecology and population health.
Matthew Tatz, PhD Student
Matt is an Integrative Conservation in Ecology Ph.D. student co-advised by Dr. Sonia Hernandez at the Warnell School of Forestry and Dr. Stacey Lance at the Odum School of Ecology. Matt received his B.S. in Environmental Science with a focus in Ecology from Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC) before obtaining his M.S. in Forestry and Natural Resources (Wildlife Science) at Warnell under Dr. Hernandez. Matt’s passion for conservation and scientific outreach stems from his time conducting avian research. At GGC, Matt published his independent research on feeder bird activity patterns in fragmented forests. At Warnell, he studied the relationship between mercury, urbanization, and Salmonella in the American white ibis (Eudocimus albus). His research interests include conservation science, ecotoxicology, and disease ecology. As he aspires to become a professor, Matt’s favorite aspect of graduate school has been teaching and mentoring undergraduate students.
Doreen Chaussadas, PhD Student
Doreen is fascinated with animal behavior and more particularly animal traditions and cultural evolution. Very early on, she learnt that an interdisciplinary approach was best fit to answer the questions that interest her, which led her to build interest in animal social dynamics and information transmission and their link to adaptation and genetic evolution. She started her research journey by studying vocal dialects in resident groups of Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) during her undergraduate studies at the Université de Paris-Saclay (France). After she got her B.S. in 2015, she started working towards her master’s degree in Ethology, and joined a collaborative research project between the Université de Strasbourg (France) and the University of Cape Town (South Africa), studying the impacts of climate change on the interspecific social structure and information transmission within an avian community in the Kalahari desert. Doreen got her M.S in 2017, after which took a few years to work on various research projects, always focusing on birds and their behavior. In the Hernandez lab, she hopes to understand how the behavioral variations in American White Ibises (Eudocymus albus) provide them with adaptations to their living environment, and to test if these denote the premises of a divergent cultural system that may influence their genetic evolution.
Sarah Dean, Undergraduate Student
Sarah Dean is an undergraduate student interested in disease ecology and One Health. She is pursuing degrees in ecology (B.S.) and microbiology (B.S.) at UGA, and her eventual goal is to obtain a PhD in disease ecology. Her research experience began on Dr. Hernandez’s Conservation Medicine course in Costa Rica, where she studied aggressive behaviors in a native fish and fell in love with the demands and rewards of field work and data analysis. She has since worked with the Hernandez Lab on the White Ibis Project and on a CURO-funded study on avian salmonellosis in bird feeders. She enjoys running, visiting national parks, and coffee.
Kimberly Perez, PhD Student
Kimberly is a PhD student in Environmental Health Science under the advisement of Dr. Erin K. Lipp and Dr. Sonia M. Hernandez. Kimberly recived a BS and BA in Animal Science and Journalism respectively, from Colorado State University and a MPH from UGA. During her MPH, Kimberly assisted Dr. Hernandez with work on antimicrobial resistence in white stork across a natural and landfill use gradient. After this work, she coupled her interest of public health policy with her enthusiasm of wildlife and enteric pathogens and conducted a Salmonella persistence trial on bird feeders under the direction of Dr. Hernandez. Through these experiences, Kimberly took a stronger interest in avian disease dynamics. Kimberly’s current projects explore Salmonella isolation in songbirds and various environs (e.g., feeders).