Principal Investigator

Cheryl Schultz
Professor

Email: schultzc@wsu.edu
Office: (360) 546-9525
Lab: (360) 546-9692
Fax: (360) 546-9064
Located in Life Sciences (VSCI) 230

 

 

Current Lab Members

Graduate Students

 

Kelsey King
Ph.D in Biology email

Kelsey completed a B.A. in Biology and Environmental Studies at Cornell College in 2015 and spent the next several years working with Crane Trust in Nebraska. Kelsey examined the natural history of Puget blue butterfly, a candidate species for listing in Washington, as well as investigated phenological shifts between the butterfly and nectar plants.  Kelsey is close to completing her PhD and currently is employed as the lead biologist for USFWS for Fender’s blue butterfly and the Oregon population of Taylor’s checkerspot.

 

 

 

Caitlin Ball
PhD. in Biology, email

Caitlin completed her B.S. and M.S. in Biology at Tufts University before spending several years working seasonal jobs and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Her current research focuses on the natural history and management responses of Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, as well as potential conflicts in the timing of management activities for grassland species across the United States.

 

 

Christopher Walsh
MS in Biology,  email

Chris completed his B.S. in Environmental Biology at Providence College in Rhode Island in 2025. He studied bees and butterflies as an undergrad. Chris is currently working on an MS in Biology. He is interested in management practices such as mowing that have the potential to enhance late summer resource availablility for monarchs and pollinators.

 

 

Mellanie Martin
MS in Biology and MS in Computer Science, email 

Mellanie completed her B.S. in Computer Science, with a minor in Biology, at WSU Vancouver in 2026. Mellanie is pursuing a dual MS in Computer Science and Biology at WSU Vancouver. She is interested in developing novel pipelines to use computer vision to facilitate understanding changes in fine-scale structure of praire grasslands in response to habitat management as an essential component in understanding demographic responses of butterflies to management.

Undergraduates

 

Angelica Perov
Undergraduate, Environmental Science email

In the Conservation Biology lab, Angelica is involved in projects related to captive rearing of butterflies with Emma Dombrow, and related to potential conflicts in timing of management with Caitlin Ball.

 

Dahlena U’Ren
Undergraduate, Neuroscience, email

Dahlena is working with Chris Walsh to understand the shifts pollinator’s use through the seasons in response to mowing management by reviewing pollinator observations, nectar & milkweed plants, and other data collected from field research.

 

 

Laura Edgar
Undergraduate, Biology, email

Laura developed a project to quantitive leaf toughness in milkweeds in response to heat stress, working with both Emma Dombrow and Chris Walsh. She also assisted with an analysis of butterfly captive rearing programs.

Lux Johnson
Undergraduate, Biology, email

Lux has assisted with several projects in the lab including rearing monarch butterflies for experimental field work at Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge

 

Mia Herman
Undergraduate, Environmental Science, email

Mia was awarded undergraduate research scholarships from WSU College of Arts and Sciences and from WSU Vancouver. The scholarships supported research investigating potential risk of pesticide toxins during mud-puddling behavior in butterflies. She was awarded the 2026 SOE Undergraduate Resarcher-of-the-year award. She is working with Mellanie Martin to complete a manuscript based on this research.

 

Former Lab Members

Graduate Students

Emma Dombrow
M.S. Biology 2026, email

Thesis: Using adaptive management to assess larval survival and habitat characteristics of Oregon silverspot butterfly.  Emma will be working with captive rearing programs for at-risk species in California after completing her degree.

Izzy Bur
M.S. Biology 2025, email

Thesis: Population monitoring for Oregon silverspot butterfly to support recovery efforts: a comparison of three methods.  Izzy  is currently a prairie biologist with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

 

 

 

Samantha Bussan
Ph.D. in Biology 2023 email
Sam’s dissertation focused on butterflies on working lands—specifically, cattle and dairy farms—in the south Puget Sound. She studied how different grazing management regimes affect butterflies. She currently works as a Restoration Ecologist with EcoStudies Institute in Olympia, WA.

 

 

Cassandra Doll
M.S. in Biology 2021, email
Cassandra’s thesis examined the efficacy of using selective herbicides as a primary restoration tool in Oregon silverspot butterfly habitat, and she completed a Fellowship in the Directorate Fellow’s Program in the summer of 2020. Cassie currently works as a biologist with USFWS in the Lacey, WA office.

 

Leland Bennion
M.S. in Biology, 2018
Thesis: Community-level effects of herbicide-based restoration treatments: structural benefits but at what cost?

 

 

Chelsea Thomas
M.S. in Zoology, 2017
Thesis: Facultative mutualism increases survival of an endangered ant‑tended butterfly

 

 

Joey Smokey
M.S. in Zoology, 2017

Thesis: Is fine-scale fire disturbance better for insect populations? Evaluating population growth rate in response to management plans for an endangered butterfly metapopulation

 

Jessica Zemaitis
M.S. in Environmental Science, 2015

Thesis: Effects of a graminicide on three Euphydryas species, surrogates for endangered and at-risk checkerspots

Rachel Glaeser
M.S. in Environmental Science, 2014

Thesis: Characterizing a contentious management tool: the effects of a grass-specific herbicide on the silvery blue butterfly

Rhiannon Thomas
M.S. in Environmental Science 2013, email

Thesis: Sex-specific nectar plant use and selection by an endangered butterfly: implications for conservation and recovery.

 

 

Alexa Carleton
M.S. in Environmental Science 2011

Thesis: Restoration action and species response: oviposition habits of Plebejus icarioides fenderi (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) across a restoration chronosequence in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA

 

 

Caitlin LaBar
M.S. in Environmental Science 2009

Thesis: Investigating the use of herbicides to control invasive grasses in prairie habitats: effects on non-target butterflies

 

Loni Beyer
M.S. in Environmental Science 2008

Thesis: Oviposition selection by a rare grass skipper, Polites mardon, in montane habitats: advancing ecological understanding for developing conservation strategies

 

Cheryl Russell
M.S. in Environmental Science 2008

 

Jason Dzurisin
M.S. in Environmental Science 2005

Thesis: Captive rearing and endangered butterfly recovery: captive environments and implications for propagation

 

Postdoctoral Researchers

 

Erica Henry
Postdoctoral Associate, 2021-2025; M.S. in Environmental Science 2010

MS Thesis: A first step towards successful habitat restoration and reintroduction: understanding oviposition site selection of an imperiled butterfly, Mardon skipper. After her MS work, Erica completed her PhD at NC State working with endangered butterflies in the Southeast. She returned to Washington as a Postdoctoral Associate. Erica initiated work with Oregon silverspot butterfly in coordination with USFS, USFWS and other organizations.  She also played a key role in the Status of Butterflies working group. She is now a research biologist with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and WSU Adjoint Faculty in School of Biological Sciences

 

Emily Erickson
Research associate in collaboration with UC Davis (email)

Emily defended her PhD in Entomology at the Pennsylvania State University in 2021 and a postdoc in the Crone Lab at UC Davis. Emily studies population dynamics and demography of western monarch butterflies in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a research associate with the Schultz Lab, Emily led the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge, a community-science initiative to track western monarch distribution in early spring.

 

Michelle Boone
Postdoctoral Researcher 

 

Collin Edwards
Postdoctoral Researcher 

Collin completed his PhD at Cornell University.  He was a joint postdoctoral fellow in our lab and with Elizabeth Crone (Tufts, then UC Davis). He played a key role in the Status of Butterflies working group, a USGS-USFWS funded working group. Collin works at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

 

 

 

 

Rachael Bonoan
Postdoctoral Researcher (2018-2020)
Rachael was part of both the Schultz Lab here at WSU and the Crone Lab at Tufts University, Rachael investigated the natural history of the symbiosis between Puget blue caterpillars and their attendant ants given potential phenological shifts.

 

 

Norah Warchola
Postdoctoral Researcher, 2013 – 2015
Norah split her time between WSUV and the Crone Lab at Tufts University. Her work at WSUV focused on the demography and movement of Fender’s blue butterfly and how the species reacted to prescribed burns of its prairie habitat.

 

 

Dina Roberts
Postdoctoral Researcher

Aldina Franco
Postdoctoral Researcher

Paul Severns
Postdoctoral Researcher

 

REU Students

 

Aramee Diethelm
Portland State University, REU 2016
Aramee is currently pursing a Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno. As an REU student, she studied larval growth rates of monarch (Danaus plexippus) larvae on three different milkweed (Asclepias) species and the sublethal effects of neonicotinoids from seed treatments in co-occurring agricultural crops.

Technicians

Hannah Machiorlete (“mash-or-let”)
Hannah was a technician in 2021-2022 assisting with the at-risk butterfly phenology project and the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge.  She is currently a MS student at the College of William & Mary studying sexual and clonal reproduction in milkweeds. Please email hmachiorlete7@gmail.com with any questions.

 

 

June Arriens

June joined the lab in October 2019, and worked part-time between WSU and Tufts University. Her WSU work focused on analyzing long-term Fender’s blue data, and assisting with South Sound fieldwork.

 

 

Christopher Jason

Jason joined the lab in spring 2019 and has assisted on various projects including a season of fieldwork in the South Sound tracking butterfly movement in response to grazing regime and the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge in 2020 and 2021.

 

 

Undergraduate Assistants

 

Bree Sheffield
Undergraduate, Environmental Science and Biology 

Bree is an undergraduate student pursuing her degree in environmental science with a minor in biology. She spent the spring and summer of 2021 and 2022 living and working on the Oregon coast conducting research on the Oregon silverspot butterfly on behalf of the Schultz lab. Her interests include wildlife conservation, restoration ecology, and utilizing disturbance as a management tool.

 

 

Kate Glover
Undergraduate, Biology and Mathematics 

Kate is an undergraduate studying biology and minoring in mathematics. Her interests include entomology, conservation, and ecology. She was given a grant in spring of 2022 from the College of Arts & Sciences to participate with the Schultz lab on a SERDP-funded project assessing the connection between abundance & phenology for at-risk butterfly species. She spent the spring and summer of 2022 working at Mount Hebo and Nestucca Bay Wildlife Refuge on the lab’s study on the endangered Oregon silverspot butterfly, and she is currently analyzing oviposition survey data from the 2022 field season.

 

 

Lilianne de la Espriella
Communications and Outreach Coordinator

Lilianne is the Communications and Outreach Coordinator for the Western Monarch Mystery Challenge. As a first generation American originally from Florida, she set her sights on UC Santa Cruz to study Ecology and Environmental Studies and graduated as a highly productive student researcher, science communicator, and amongst the top of her class. Now she is working at the intersection of science and the general public to bridge the two worlds in a seamless way.

 

 

Rebecca Neville
B.S. in Environmental Science

Kim Harless
B.S. in Environmental Science