CARSTENSLAB

Meet the lab.We're smart, fun, and dedicated.

Most of us are young and energetic.



Niko Zuppas

Niko joined the lab in the Fall of 2024 after completing a BS degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of South Carolina. Niko is developing transfer learning AI methods that improve genomic data generated from poor quality samples.

Jesse Wallace

Jesse participated in the 2018 EEOB Next-gen REU and worked with Megan Smith sequencing invertebrates that live in leaf litter from the Pacific Northwest for an undergraduate research project. After spending a few years working as a technician in Michigan, we are excited to have her back in the lab to conduct dissertation research on the landscape genetics of invasive species.

Halle Summers

Halle joined the lab in Autumn of 2025 after completing a BS in Biology from Angelo State University working in Loren Ammerman's lab. Her dissertation project will investigate the Myotis californicus and M. ciliolabrum species complex.

Brendan O'Loughlin

Brendan joined the lab in Autumn of 2025 after completing a BS in Biology from Rice University. Brendan is interested in the evolution and species limits of gall-forming wasps.





Sydney Decker

Dr. Decker joined the lab in the Fall of 2019. Her dissertation investigated the demographic history and species delimitation in yellow bats using a combination of morphological, environmental, and genomic data. After finishing her dissertation we hired her as a postdoctoral researcher so that she could help with training of our new students. More information about Sydney's research is available on her website

Tamaki Yuri

Dr. Yuri is the Curator of the Tetrapod Collection at the Museum of Biological Diversity. Tamaki earned her Ph D at the University of Michigan and has previously worked for the University of Oklahoma, the University of Florida, and the Smithsonian.

Shelby Moshier

Shelby joined the lab in the Fall of 2020 in the middle of a global pandemic! Before joining the lab, she completed a Master's degree in the lab of Joshua Reece. Shelby is interested in migration; in particular she hopes to develop a quantifiable measure of migratory status and identify the species traits that are associated with this life history. More information about Shelby's research can be found on her website.









Prospective student, visitor, or postdoc?

Email Bryan to discuss opportunities and potential options for funding your project.

If you are a prospective graduate student, deadlines for application to the OSU Graduate School are December 1st for the following Fall semester.

See the Alumni page for former students and previous visitors to the lab.





Bryan Carstens CV

A Chicago native, Bryan Carstens earned a BA in English and a BS in Zoology from Michigan State University in 1998. He earned an MS in Zoology (under the direction of Barb Lundrigan) from Michigan State University in 2001 and a Ph D at the University of Idaho (under the direction of Jack Sullivan) in 2004. He was employed as at postdoc at the University of Michigan with Lacey Knowles from 2005-2007 and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University from 2007-2012. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University.


WE ARE EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS.

We make inferences about the history of species and ecological communities using genetic, environmental and morphological data. We conduct investigations in a range of organisms: bats, insects, carnivorous plants, salamanders, willows, spiders, snails, slugs and viruses.

Download Bryan's CV here.

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