Lab Members

Carolyn Foley, Research Associate. Carolyn’s background is in invertebrate biology. Her research focuses on growth and survival of benthic macroinvertebrates like Diporeia and Hexagenia, as well as small-bodied fishes like round gobies and young yellow perch. Techniques employed include diet, fatty acid, and stable isotope analysis, meta-analysis, and RNA:DNA. Carolyn collaborates closely with Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

Email: cfoley@purdue.edu

Dominique Turney, Research scientist. Dominique completed her BS in Fisheries and Wildlife at Purdue University in 2016 and her MS in Biological Sciences at Western Illinois University in 2020. After graduation, she worked as a Large River Research Ecologist at the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Illinois River Biological Station researching invasive carp in the Upper Mississippi River. Dominique’s previous research experiences focused on river ecology, aquatic invasive species management, and telemetry to evaluate fish movements. Dominique serves as a Purdue FNR Aquatic Ecology Research Scientist and as Great Lakes Science Liaison for Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) focusing on supporting and leading various Great Lakes research projects and contributing to IISG’s outreach and engagement program.

Email: dturney@purdue.edu

Les Warren, Research Associate. Les completed his BS in Ecology and Environmental Biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 2015. After graduation, he started his MS at St. Cloud State University, MN in Aquatic Toxicology and Ecology Biology. His master’s thesis research focused on contamination from septic systems around Minnesota lake shores and the biological effects on adult and larval Bluegill sunfish and fathead minnows. Les’ PhD work at Purdue focused on investigating larval Alewife recruitment from near-shore and tributary habitats in Lake Michigan.

Email: warre112@purdue.edu

Erin Driehaus, MS student. Erin completed her BS in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources at West Virginia University in 2024. While at WVU she was involved in multiple research projects investigating the ecology of stream fish in Appalachia. Erin has also worked in environmental compliance as a biological field technician, where she completed bat, bird, habitat, and wetland surveys. Her MS research focuses on assessing the potential impacts of bowfishing on native and invasive fish species throughout Indiana.

Email: edriehaus@purdue.edu

Anna Hill, MS student. Anna completed her BS in Marine Science with a concentration in Marine Biology from University of Delaware in 2021. After graduation, she worked as an Aquatic Ecology Technician at the Illinois Natural History Survey at the Kaskaskia Biological Station conducting standardized fisheries surveys on larval, juvenile, and adult fishes. She then became an Intern at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab collecting fishery independent data in Alabama state waters and assisting in the beginning efforts for the Greater Amberjack Count. At Purdue, her MS research will focus on both identifying migration patterns of yellow perch in and out of drowned river mouth lakes, and characterizing larval alewife and bloater age, diet, and growth in Lake Michigan.

Email: hill623@purdue.edu

Jelsie Kerr, MS student. Jelsie completed her BS in Environmental and Natural Resources at Clemson University in 2018. After graduation, Jelsie worked as a senior research technician for the Freshwater Conservation Ecology Lab at Clemson. In this position, Jelsie supported multiple projects focused on understanding resource and habitat selection of aquatic species. Jelsie’s MS research focuses on quantifying and modeling habitat availability of cisco, as well as estimating and comparing nutrient load reductions of LIDs and BMPs for cisco watersheds.

Email: kerjj@purdue.edu

Francis Kudwa, MS student. Francis completed his BS in Fisheries and Wildlife with a concentration in Fisheries Biology and Management at Michigan State University in 2023. After graduation, Francis worked for Great Lakes Environmental Center as a contractor for the State of Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). During his time with EGLE, he worked within the statewide Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program. Francis’ research at Purdue will focus on walleye and lake whitefish spawning assessments at potential nearshore rocky reef construction sites in Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron.

Email: fkudwa@purdue.edu

Logan Potter, MS student. Logan Potter is working with Jake Hosen, Tomas Hook and others to study production pathways supporting freshwater mussels in Indiana streams.

Email: potter79@purdue.edu

Rajeev Kumar, MS student. Rajeev Kumar completed his BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2019. There, he partook in studies of cyanobacteria, fish ecology, and amphibian disease ecology. Rajeev’s MS work at Purdue examines the feasibility of successfully reintroducing Cisco into Lake Erie.

Email: kumar478@purdue.edu

Max Moran, MS student. Max completed his undergraduate education at the University of Virginia in 2022, earning both a BS in Environmental Sciences and a BA in Environmental Thought and Practice. Following graduation, he worked as a research technician specializing in aquatic ecology and fisheries biology at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS), stationed at the Sam Parr Biological Field Station. During his time at the Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS), Max conducted research on sportfish ecology in southern and central Illinois and participated in behavioral assays focused on the Lepomis genus. Max’s research at Purdue will focus on studying the different ecotypes of Lake Trout found at Klondike Reef, an important spawning reef located in Lake Superior.

Email: moran109@purdue.edu

Noah Pyle, MS student. Noah Pyle completed his BS from Kalamazoo College in 2025, and started as a MS student at Purdue the same year. His research explores the complex stock structure, movement patterns and harvest of yellow perch in Lake Michigan and connected drowned river mouth lakes.

Email: pylen@purdue.edu