Graduate Student Profiles

Office Location: STEPS 580

Area of Specialization: Temperate plant community ecology

Miller is a PhD candidate in the Earth and Environmental Sciences department studying temperate forest ecology. They earned their BS in Environmental Science from Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA in 2019 and later earned their MS in Marine and Atmospheric Science from Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY in 2023. Their dissertation research aims to understand how invasion by nonnative plants changes the community assembly processes of native plants in temperate forests. With a broad and interdisciplinary background, their interests range across scales and systems to incorporate environmental, climatic, and anthropogenic impacts on plant communities. Miller is passionate about science communication and public outreach, having spent a few years as a park ranger and environmental educator before returning to graduate school. Beyond the lab and field, you can find them playing ultimate frisbee.

Office Location: ST 240

Area of Specialization: Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Geochemistry, Biogeochemistry, Oceanography

Jessica graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.S. in Marine Science in 2021. She became interested in hydrothermal vents during her undergrad while doing research using δ¹³C values of lipid biomarkers extracted from a carbonate hydrothermal chimney to determine if the microbes inhabiting different thermochemical gradients utilized distinct carbon sources. Before beginning graduate school at Lehigh, Jessica spent a year working at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a lab manager doing hydrothermal organic geochemistry. Her current research focuses on understanding both geochemical and biogeochemical interactions at various hydrothermal vent fields across the Pacific Ocean. She has extensive oceanographic fieldwork experience, participating in three month-long research cruises since she arrived at Lehigh. In her free time, Jessica enjoys tending to her garden plot in the Lehigh Community Garden, baking, reading, game nights, and any and all ocean-related activities.

Office Location: STEPS 570

Area of Specialization: Thermochronology, Landscape Evolution

Andrew is a PhD Candidate in Earth & Environmental Sciences at Lehigh University, and a Geoscientist for the PA Geologic Survey Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources in Middletown, PA. He received his BS in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia and MS in Earth Science from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. His research focuses on thermochronologic technique development and the post-orogenic landscape evolution of the Appalachians. He is also interested in geoscience outreach, having been an earth science-based camp director for the past four years at the Pocono Environmental Education Center.