People Involved in CHYTRID-PEET Research Project
At The University of Alabama

Graduate Students Trained

Scott Wakefield
B.S. Biology - The University of Alabama
Current M.S. student at The University of Alabama
NSF PEET Spizellomycetales Graduate Student

James G. Chambers
M.S., Ph.D. – The University of Alabama
Currently Post-Doctoral Fellow at The University of Alabama-Birmingham School
of Medicine and working on the M.D. degree.

James Chambers (right) talks with The University of Georgia trainee,
Sharon Mozley-Standridge (left) during her visit to The University of Alabama.

Peter M. Letcher
Ph.D. – The University of Alabama
Currently Assistant Research Scientist at The University of Alabama

Peter Letcher (left) and CHYTRID-PEET P.I.,
Martha Powell (right), examine pollen bait for chytrids.

Leonardo Taarea
M.S. – The University of Alabama
Currently high school science teacher

Leo Taarea is using light and electron microscopy to study the
development and structure of septa in Rhizophydium and
Chytriomyces clade chytrids.

Undergraduate Researchers

Micheal Brooks
B.S. Biology – The University of Alabama
NSF PEET Spizellomycetales Undergraduate Researcher
Currently M.S. Student, The University of Alabama

Kathryn Picard
B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Philosophy – The University of Alabama
NSF REVSYS Rhizophydium Clade Undergraduate Researcher and Hughes Undergraduate Research Intern
Currently M.S. student on NSF-REVSYS grant and NSF Bridge to the Doctorate Fellow.

Phillip Dean
B.S. Chemistry – The University of Alabama
Currently in medical school at UASOM in Birmingham.

Computer Honors Students, Phillip Dean (left) and Nick Vester (right)
design the architecture of the UA CHYTRID-PEET Website. Phillip Dean has continued conducting research on chytrids and developing the website and interactive database.

Rachel Gillis
B.S. Chemical and Biological Engineering – The University of Alabama
M.S. Chemical Engineering – UCSB in California.
Currently Engineer, Eastman Kodak in Tennessee

Rachael Gillis works on the purification and amplification
of DNA from chytrids in the Chytriomyces clade.

Ronald Tolliver
B.S. Biology – The University of Alabama
Laboratory Technician, Optical Laboratory
Currently high school teacher

Peter Letcher (left) and Ronald Tolliver (right)
bait soil samples with cellulose to isolate
Rhizophlyctis rosea from 14 different
locations around the world. These isolates are used
in an investigation of ITS1-5.8S-ITS2
sequence variability in a morphospecies.

Adam Brown
B.S. Biology – The University of Alabama
High School Biology Teacher
A Hughes Undergraduate Research Intern
Currently in U.S. Air Force and medical school

Adam Brown discusses his research poster, Techniques for the
Synchronization of Development in Powellomyces, with high school
Hughes Rural Science Scholars

Jermaine Mitchell
B.S. Biology – Stillman College
M.S. Student in Sports Medicine
A Hughes Undergraduate Research Intern

Jermaine Mitchell working on the isolation and cultures of chytrids that grow on fish scales and on the rate of cellulose breakdown by Rhizophlyctis rosea.

Ashley Ragsdale
B.S. Biology – The University of Alabama
A Hughes Undergraduate Research Intern
Environmental Law Student, Samford University

Ashley Ragsdale (left) discusses her poster on
the ultrastructural and molecular characterization of
Powellomyces species with Tim James (right) ( Duke University )at MSA 2001, Salt Lake City , Utah .

Shenavia Baity (left) and Kristy Cromlin (right) collect algal
samples to examine for parasitic chytrids.

Silvina Rosa

Emilie LeFevre

Carlos Velez
Departmento de Biodiversidad y Biologia Experimental, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales,
Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina