The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

BGSA Officers

President

Jonah Kotzen

Jonah is a second-year PhD student in David Pfennig’s lab studying the ecological and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity, with a focus on how morphological variation influences feeding performance and adaptation in spadefoot toads. His broader interests include functional morphology, biomechanics, and feeding ecology. Outside of research, Jonah enjoys wildlife photography, video games, thrifting, rollerblading, and exploring the outdoors.

jkotzen@unc.edu

 

Vice President

Audrey Thomas

Audrey is a a second year QBio PhD student in the Ahmed Lab studying telomere biology and applications towards cancer formation. In my free time, I enjoy reading about stem cells, aggressively competing in volleyball tournaments, or conversating with my huge pitbull, energetic beta fish, and my 2 frizzled hamsters.

audreyt@unc.edu

 

Secretary

Aria Zhang

Here’s my photo and my bio: Aria Zhang is a second-year PhD student in Karin Pfennig Lab. She studies the behavioral ecology and evolution of spadefoot toads. In her spare time, you’ll find her cooking, or birding/herping/wandering around with her camera.

yz7152@unc.edu

 

 

Treasurer

Pranav Pradhan

Pranav is a 2nd year EEOB student in the Hedrick Lab of Comparative Biomechanics, obsessed with teasing apart the biomechanics of high-speed aerial predation. He’s after the split-second mechanics of chases and agile turns, but don’t picture him at the wetlab: it’s been ages since he touched a pipette. He lives on his desktop, building slick analysis pipelines, crafting publication-ready visualizations, and wrangling datasets with cool software instead of fussing with pricey hardware.

Off the screen he’s just as strategic and competitive: you’ll catch him playing or watching chess, chasing a cricket ball, or trading shots on the pickleball court. Curious, computational, and unpretentiously brilliant at turning messy data into clear stories.

pnp@unc.edu

 

 

 

Faculty Representative

Jenna Vesey

jennavc@unc.edu

 

 

 

GPSG Representatives

Nosa Osawe

Nosa is a second year PhD student in the Hurlbert lab.

osawe@unc.edu

Karl Hill

 

Web Master

Dalia Chen

Dalia is a third year PhD student in the Mitchell lab studying pathogen-pathogen and host-pathogen interactions in the host plant tall fescue.

daliac@unc.edu

 

 

Social Chair

Shelby Oliveaux

Shelby is a third year PhD student in Karin Pfennig’s lab interested in systematics, phylogenetics, morphological variation.
oliveaux@unc.edu

 

 

Social Coordinator

Natalie Morris

Natalie is a third-year EEOB PhD student in the Petrullo Lab, studying host-microbiome interactions, developmental plasticity, and life history in wild red squirrels, as a part of the Kluane Red Squirrel Project. 

njmorris@unc.edu

 

Sports Coordinator

Nicolas Frasson      

Nico is a 6th year PhD student from France in Dr. Keith Sockman’s lab and BGSA social coordinator. I am broadly interested in physiological tradeoffs between migration behavior and reproductive strategies / survival in Lincoln’s Sparrows, a tiny passerine bird breeding in the high-elevation Colorado mountains. Outside research, I love pretty much all sports (basketball, tennis, ski, rugby, wakeboard), hiking in national parks, traveling, and socializing around great wine/cheese.

nfrasson@unc.edu

SSC Liaison

Tab Henry   

Tab Henry, Safe Spaces Committee Liaison, 4th year PhD student in the Burmeister lab. I investigate the neural and behavioral differences in spatial cognition between juvenile and adult poison frogs (Dendrobates auratus), aiming to understand how factors like sexual maturity impact the development of navigation. Outside of research, I enjoy gardening, trying out new crafts, and spending time with my many pets!

tabhenry@unc.edu

Oliver Cope

Oliver (they/them), Safe Spaces Committee Liaison, 2nd year PhD student in the Parker lab. My research focuses on exploring the evolution of heritable viral symbiosis in aphids using genomic and molecular biology techniques. I’m trying to understand how viral infection shapes aphid biology and wing plasticity. Outside of the lab, I enjoy reading, painting, and embroidery.

olicope@live.unc.edu

 

First Year Representative

Pranav Bellur

Pranav is a first–year PhD student in Lauren Petrullo’s Lab at UNC Chapel Hill. Broadly, he is interested in understanding how animals respond to environmental change by integrating environmental cues into behavioral, physiological, and life-history plasticity, how these plastic responses shape individual fitness, and how their fitness consequences scale up to influence demographic processes and long-term population persistence. Outside of research, Pranav is passionate about teaching and enjoys weightlifting, basketball, cooking, hiking, and birdwatching. 

pbellur@unc.edu

Isabella Reyes

Isabella is a first-year EEOB PhD student in the Petrullo Lab, interested in how organisms respond and adapt to rapidly changing environments. Her research focuses on phenotypic plasticity, host-microbiome interactions, and ecological physiology in wild North American red squirrels as part of the Kluane Red Squirrel Project. Outside of the lab and field, she enjoys baking, dancing, and crocheting.

ireyes@unc.edu