Kari E. Veblen
Professor
​​Kari received her PhD in ecology from University of California-Davis and was a post-doc with the USGS in Corvallis, OR. She is an ecologist with broad interests, including livestock-wildlife-plant interactions, plant community ecology, grazing ecology, and restoration ecology. Current field site locations include the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau, USA, and Kenya, East Africa.
​Abdullahi Ali 
​Post-doc
​​Dr. Ali completed his PhD at U. Wyoming on resource selection and population dynamics of the highly endangered​ hirola antelope in Kenya. At USU he is building on that research, studying how best​ to restore hirola habitat.​​
​Sofia Koutzoukis
PhD Student
​​Sofia is working on a USDA NIFA-funded project investigating pre-emptive, high input restoration of sagebrush rangelands in the Intermountain West. She is focusing on canopy-interspace dynamics and the consequences of those dynamics for plant community structure and spatial distributions.
Maria Stahl
PhD student, Quinney Fellow
​​Maria is working on a USDA NIFA-funded project that explores the compatibility of Criollo cattle, a heritage breed, with Colorado Plateau landscapes. 
Josh Day
PhD student
​​Josh is studying the patterns and drivers of sagebrush establishment and persistence in rangelands of the Colorado Plateau. 
Spencer Good
MS student
​As part of a project funded by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Spencer is working on a broadscale experiment that tests how composition of restoration seed mixes and associated seeding practices can be modified to overcome establishment barriers associated with particular site conditions.
McKenna Delton
MS student
​Kenna is working on a field experiment that tests how different bluebunch wheatgrass plant populations, including both locally-collected and those that have been selected and tested for broadscale use, perform across different ecological conditions encountered at restoration sites.  This project is a collaboration with Dr. Tom Monaco at USDA-ARS. 
​Lab Alumni

Grad students
Liz Bailey, MS (2021): "Transplanting mature mountain big sagebrush plants yields high first-year survival in former agricultural lands"
Kyle Nehring, MS (2021): "Interactive effects of soil and browsing on big sagebrush: implications for restoration success​"
​Merran Owen, MS (2020; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco): ​"Effects of biocrust development on establishment of native plants in a salt desert system"
Eric LaMalfa, (Quinney Fellow), PhD (2018): “Fire-herbivory interactions in an East African savanna: effects on Acacia drepanolobium and the demographic bottleneck”
Brittany Duncan, MS (2018; co-advised with Dr. Karin Kettenring): “Impacts of cattle grazing as a tool to control Phragmites australis in wetlands on nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon”
Lacey Wilder, MS (2016; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco): "Assessment of restoration seedings on Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative project sites"
​Rebecca Mann, MS (2016): “Intraspecific variation in the response of Elymus elymoides to competition from Bromus tectorum”
Maike Holthuijzen (NSF Graduate Research Fellow), MS (2015): “Grass-shrub spatial associations over precipitation and grazing gradients in the Great Basin”

Post-docs
Corinna Riginos (2016 - 2017)
Huiqin He (2015 - 2016; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco)
Lin Liu (2014 - 2015; co-advised with Dr. Tom Monaco)

Undergraduate researchers
Elise Riley (2019 - 2021; co-advised with Dr. Julia Burton)
Amberlee Burrows (2016)
Justin Taylor (2015 - 2017; co-advised with Dr. Juan Villalba & Dr. Eric Thacker)
Lacey Wilder (2015)
Sara Germain (2014 - 2016)
Trec Reed (2014 - 2015)
Hope Braithwaite (2013 - 2015; co-advised with Dr. Juan Villalba & Dr. Eric Thacker)
Tim Bateman (2013 - 2015; co-advised with Dr. Juan Villalba & Dr. Eric Thacker)
Brittany Duncan (2013-2014)
Current collaborators
​
​Jacopo Baggio (UCF)
Janis Boettinger (USU)
Mark Brunson (USU)
Mike Duniway (USGS)
Tom Monaco (USDA-ARS)
Lauren Porensky (USDA-ARS)
Dave Pyke (USGS)
Corinna Riginos (TNC)
Eric Thacker (USU)
Juan Villalba (USU)
Truman Young (UC Davis)