Post-docs
Dr. Katherine Jordan-Burmeister
Kat joined the lab in Fall 2024 after completing her PhD at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Kat’s research focuses on quantitative methods to examine diversification and evolution, paleoecology, and biogeography with a particular emphasis on Devonian trilobites.
Graduate Students
Noel Hernandez Gomez, MS candidate expected completion December 2024 (UTK)
Noel joined the lab in January 2023. Noel’s thesis work includes the first ecological niche model analysis for shallow marine taxa across the Late Ordovician Richmondian Invasion in the Nashville Dome. Noel has presented his early results at the 2023 Annual GSA meeting and the 2024 North American Paleontological Convention. His research has been supported by a grant from the Cincinnati Dry Dredgers. Noel completed his BS degree at University of South Florida where he was active in scientific communication and published a paper on the ontogeny of Pennsylvanian crinoids.
Shymah Beegam Kundladi, PhD candidate expected completion Summer 2027 (UTK)
Shymah joined the lab in Fall 2023. Her dissertation work focuses on investigating paleoecological questions within shallow marine communities of the Ordovician seas. Shymah is a native of Kerala region of India. She completed her BS and MS in Geology at Indian Institute for Science Education and Research (IISER) in Kolkata, India where her research applied quantitative analysis to diversity and paleoecology of rudistid bivalves.
Mariana Vilela de Andrade, MS 2024 (UTK), PhD candidate expected completion Summer 2028 (UTK)
Mariana joined the Stigall Lab in Fall 2022 as an MS student and rejoined in Fall 2024 as a PhD student. Mariana is broadly interested in exploring the relationships among morphology, geographic distribution, niche stability, and environmental change. Mariana completed her MS degree in Summer 2024. For that project, she conducted a phylogenetic analysis, systematic revision, and evolutionary biogeographic analysis of a the Anazygidae, a clade of tiny Ordovician brachiopods comprising the genera Catazyga, Anazyga, and Zygospira. Mariana has presented her MS thesis work at the 2023 Symposium on the International Ordovician System in Estonia, the 2023 Annual GSA meeting and the 2024 North American Paleontological Convention. Her research has been supported by grants from the IGCP 735 and the Cincinnati Dry Dredgers. Mariana plans to focus her dissertation research on Devonian reef community evolution through a combination of brachiopod phylogenetic, quantitative modeling, and food web analysis. Mariana is originally from Brazil and completed her BS degree in Biology at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (Brazil).
Undergraduates
We are always on the lookout for outstanding undergrads to join the lab. If you are interested, contact Dr. Stigall.
Owen Singleton, BS Geology and Environmental Studies, expected completion 2025 (UTK)
During Summer 2024, Owen is curating Ordovician fossils from Nashville and Cincinnati regions.
Wesley Rummage, BS Geology and Environmental Studies, expected completion 2025 (UTK)
During Summer 2024, Wesley has been working on identification and classification of shallow marine fossils in the Cincinnati and Nashville regions to better identify fossil abundance for these regions.
Emily Glaspie, BS Geology and Environmental Studies, expected completion 2027 (UTK)
Emily worked on Jurassic conchostracan morphology during Spring 2024.
Aidan Littleton, BS Geology and Environmental Studies, expected completion 2024 (UTK)
During Summer 2023, Aidan worked on analyzing community structure in the Late Ordovician strata around Nashville, TN focusing on the Cincinnati (Katian) shallow marine invertebrates. He presented results at the 2023 Annual GSA meeting and the Spring 2024 UTK Eureka Symposium.