Mentoring

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

I currently have the opportunity to mentor several amazing students in the Sheldon Lab. We are developing several projects, from dung beetle behavior responses to environmental variables, to using herbarium specimens to better understand larval host plants.

Gracie Bixler (2026-present)

Gracie is working on new methods to study dung beetle reproductive behavior in response to environmental variables.

Myles Nellans (2026-present)

Myles is working on better understanding butterfly-hostplant interactions in order to be able to rear butterflies in captivity.

Nathan Rhodes (2026-present)

Nathan is working on field and laboratory experiments to better understand butterfly physiological traits.

Emily Sexton (2025-present)

Emily has been working in the Sheldon lab since the summer of 2025. She is currently leading experiments looking at dung beetle reproductive behavior in response to environmental variables.

Emily Wagner (2026-present)

Emily is working on field and laboratory experiments to better understand butterfly physiological traits.

Case Western Reserve University

During my PhD I had the opportunity to work with amazing students. Learn a about their work with me and what they are up to now.

Rut Muzychuk (2021-2023)

Rut worked with me since day one. She was the first student I had the opportunity to mentor, so we were both learning together. Hard worker and enthusiastic, she got to present at a national conference and she is a co-author in all the butterfly physiology work. Rut graduated from CWRU in 2024 and is now enrolled in a Master’s program at CWRU.

Wei Chen (2024-2025)

Wei worked with me during 2024-2025 as part of his capstone project. He is creative, hard worker and innovative. He was able to adapt plant software to conduct butterfly wing analysis. He graduated from CWRU in 2025 and has just started a Master’s program working with salamanders in Michigan.

Ahalya Pandian (2024)

Ahalya worked with me the summer of 2024 while she was in high school. She has a lot of curiosity for science and is always excited to learn new things. She graduated from Solon High School and just started her undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University.