About Us

Lakes and ponds are superb natural laboratories for understanding how the ecological world functions. Like plants and animals on ocean islands, the populations and communities of organisms in lakes are more isolated from exchange with nearby habitats than are their terrestrial counterparts. The microbes, algae, plants and animals that live submersed beneath the water’s surface are nearly all restricted to their liquid environment, unable to cross the land that surrounds them. Thus confined, their interactions are often intense, easily discerned, and complex in fascinating ways. Undergrads, grad students and postdocs, in the Hairston Lab take part in research on these topics.

Meet Our Lab Group

Nelson Hairston

Professor Emeritus

Nelson is Frank H. T. Rhodes Professor of Environmental Science, Emeritus, former Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, past Sr. Associate Dean in the College of Arts and Sciences, and former member of the Cornell Board of Trustees. Nelson taught a variety of courses including Ecology and the Environment, and Limnology. See "Research Interests" download CV
​email: ngh1@cornell.edu

Lindsay Schaffner

Lab Manager, until 2019

Lindsay has been interested in understanding how biological and physical processes affect conservation and management issues in freshwater ecosystems. Lindsay's MS thesis focused on rapid evolution and eco-evolutionary dynamics in the consumer species, Daphnia, in a temperate lake in upstate New York.

​She is now Executive Administration Assistant, Cornell Institute of Biotechnology
​email:  lrs242@cornell.edu 

Masato Yamamichi

Visiting Associate Professor

Masato is an Associate Professor at the University of Queensland, Australia, and has been visiting EEB for collaborative research in the Hairston and Ellner Labs. Masato studies eco-evolutionary dynamics of predator-prey systems by using methods in mathematical ecology and population genetics.
To learn more, visit:
sites.google.com/site/mstyamamichi/
​email: ​mst.yama@gmail.com

Rachel Wilkins

Graduate student

Rachel is interested in the abundance and distribution of freshwater calanoid copepods. Rachel studies the habitat, diet and population genetics of rare and common copepods to understand what constrains rare species, and how common species overcome these constraints in locations such as the Adirondack Mountains of NY and British Colombia, Canada.
​email: rla67@cornell.edu

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Former Members of the Hairston Lab

PhD students – current position
David H. Kesler, Professor Retired, Rhodes College
Bart T. De Stasio, Dennis and Charlot Nelson Singleton Professor, Lawrence University   
Valerie S. George, Law Firm, Vermont
K. David Hambright, Professor, University of Oklahoma; Editor in Chief Limnology and Oceanography  
Gregory T. Epp, Freelance editor, Buffalo, NY
Carla E. Cáceres, Professor & Director, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois
Andrew J. Bohonak, Professor & Associate Dean of Graduate Affairs, San Diego State University
Cami L. Holtmeier, Science Teacher, Washington state  
David M. Post, Professor, Yale University
Jennifer A. Fox, Teaching Professor, Georgetown University
Gretchen Gerrish, Associate Professor & Director of Trout Lake Station, University of Wisconsin
Rebecca Doyle-Morin, Professor, University of Wisconsin – Platteville  
Michael Booth, Assistant Professor - Visiting, University of Cincinnati
Cayelan Carey, Associate Professor, Virginia Tech. University
Juniper Simonis, Data Analyst, University of Florida: Founder, Dapper Stats, Portland, OR
Sarah Collins, Assistant Professor, University of Wyoming
Christopher Dalton, Science Teacher, The Rivers School, Weston, MA
Lily Twining, Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Konstanz and Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Germany
Katherine Sirianni, Instructional Design Associate, eCornell, Cornell University

MS students – current position
Kao T. Li - Principle-Retired - Cultural Brokerage Business Consulting, Massachusetts
Carol J. Meise - Scientist-Retired, National Marine Fisheries Service
Valerie S. George - Law Firm, Vermont
Jacqueline V. Jackson - unknown
Sara F. Tjossem - Sr. Lecturer, Columbia University
Alene M. Onion - Scientist, USGS
Lindsay R. Schaffner - Executive Administrative Assistant, Cornell Institute of Biotechnology

Postdocs – current position
Robert W. Black II, Professor - deceased, Cornell College, IA                  
William E. Walton, Professor - deceased, Univ. California, Riverside                      
Marc G. Boileau, self-employed, Ontario, Canada                                   
Anne-Mette Hansen, Research Scientist, Department of Environment, Odense, Denmark  
Elisabeth M. Gross, Professor, Université de Lorraine, France  
Gregor F. Fussmann, Professor, McGill University                                 
Janet M. Fischer, Professor, Franklin & Marshall College
Takehito Yoshida, Associate Professor, University of Tokyo
Ryan Thum, Professor, Montana State
Lutz Becks, Professor, University of Konstanz     
Mikael Gyllström, Government position, Sweden
Aldo Barriero, Postdoc, University of Porto
Teppo Hiltunen, Associate Professor, University of Turku
Masato Yamamichi, Associate Professor, University of Queensland
Brooks Miner, Associate Professor, Ithaca College
Allie King, Environmental Scientist, San Francisco Estuary Institute

Lab technicians – current position
Lindsay R. Schaffner, Executive Administrative Assistant, Cornell Institute of Biotechnology
Colleen M. Kearns, Program Manager, Environment and Sustainability Major, Cornell University
Julie Geyer, PhD student, University of North Carolina
Becky Poulson, Research Professional, University of Georgia
Justin Meyer, Associate Professor, University of California, San Diego
Terry Dillon
Emily Olds

The Hairston Lab in Photos

Corson Hall @ Cornell

Cornell University offers a variety of excellent opportunities for in situ study of living organisms from fresh water. Off-campus locations such as the Cornell Experimental Ponds Facility and Cornell Biological Field Station provide facilities for replicating experiments in natural and controlled aquatic environments.​