Achievement

Katie Roach advanced to Candidacy and carried out field work in Texas, Peru, and Venezuela on comparative ecology of food webs in temperate and tropical rivers. She began complementary research on mercury pollution from gold-mining with another Trainee, Nick Jacobsen, who is studying effects of mercury on humans and giant otters in Tambopata Peru. Katie's work will quantify patterns of nutrient cycling and stable isotopes and relate these to the structure and function of fish communities. She is working with Peruvian ichthyologists and NGOs to frame her research to address ecological and conservation concerns. She also published in peer-reviewed journals and gave multiple presentations at conferences in the past academic year. Katie will be attending the national IGERT meeting in 2010.