Principle Investigator

• Heath Garris, PhD PWS (PI)

I am an Assistant Professor of Biology at Covenant College and campus representative for the Au Sable Institute. I was formerly a postdoctoral researcher and graduate instructor at Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Canada.

My Post-doc project addressed ecosystem-scale passive remediation following the Mount Polley Tailings Impoundment Breach (August 4th, 2015).

 I have a broad academic and research background including ecotoxicology, vegetation science, machine learning and statistical forecast models and I am passionate about performing synthetic transdisciplinary work directed at solving environmental problems.

Specialties: Community ecology, Geographic Information Systems, environmental genomics, wetland soil and vegetation surveys,  statistical modelling and data management, design and implementation of field experiments/infrastructure, monitoring, climate data analysis, multispectral image analysis, scientific writing, research program design and grant proposal development.

Current Lab Members/Collaborators

• Claire Schofield (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
  • Foliar radiometric indices of leaf structural characteristics & Small-format remote sensing to generate early-warning indicators of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid infestations
• Karuna Taylor (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
  • Foliar radiometric indices of leaf structural characteristics & Small-format remote sensing to generate early-warning indicators of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid infestations

Past Lab Members

• Nathan Hawkins (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
  • Climate change influences on Asian carp invasion in the great lakes watershed (Statistical Forecast Modeling in R:MaxEnt)
• Caroline McKissick (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
  • Imidacloprid affects on growth and leaf physiology in Wisconsin Fast Plants (Brassica rapa)

Hemlock-Soil Metagenome Project

• Shade Epes (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
• Tyler Epes (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
• Emily McGarvey (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
• Thomas Settle (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

Hemlock Leaf Radiometry Project

• Jonathan Crossman (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
• Thomas Settle (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
• Stephen Grider (Undergraduate Research Assistant)
• Shawnté Michaels (Undergraduate Research Assistant)