GRADUATE ASSISTANTS

Graduate students serve as the “lifeblood” of the research program at the Borderlands Research Institute. With their faculty mentor, graduate students collect and analyze data to help answer research questions posed by natural resource managers and land stewards.

Educational opportunities not only come in the more traditional settings of classrooms and lecture halls, but some of the most effective settings for teaching occur behind a windshield, under a shade tree, or on the side of a mountain. The dialogues and discussions that emerge in these outdoor learning environments will long be remembered by our students.

The Chihuahuan Desert Borderlands offer some of the most scenic outdoor classrooms available worldwide. From monitoring hummingbird nests and migration routes to assessing rangeland health, our students receive a wealth of opportunities working first hand with the natural resources.

Read about our students in our Student Spotlight posts.

M.S. thesis

Project: Carrying capacity, competition, and disease risk to desert bighorn at Elephant Mountain Wildlife Management Area

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos “Lalo” Gonzalez & Justin T. French

M.S. thesis

Project: Livestock Tanks for grassland birds

Advisor:
Drs. Maureen G. Frank and Justin T. French

Ph.D. dissertation

Project: Assessing transboundary movements of black bears in southwestern Texas

Advisor:
Drs. Louis A. Harveson and Amanda Veals Dutt

M.S. thesis

Project: Exploring mycorrhizal dynamics in grazed ecosystems: A comparative analysis of rotationally grazed vs. continuously grazed systems on varied soil types

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez, Maureen G. Frank, and Justin T. French

M.S. thesis

Project: Comparing precision and scale-transferability of rangeland monitoring methods for grassland restoration in the Trans-Pecos, Texas

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez and Justin T. French

M.S. thesis

Project: Seasonal behavior and habitat selection of black bears in West Texas

Advisor:
Drs. Louis A. Harveson and Amanda Veals Dutt

M.S. thesis

Project: Movement behavior and competition of aoudad and mule deer following removal of aoudad

Advisor:
Drs. Justin T. French and Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez

M.S. thesis

Project: Evaluate responses of plant and insect communities to various mowing regimes at Fort Davis National Historic Site to draw conclusions about the effects of mowing on local pollinators

Advisor:
Dr. Maureen G. Frank

M.S. thesis

Project: Understanding potential impacts of border infrastructure and activity on the American black bear

Advisor:
Drs. Louis A. Harveson and Amanda Veals Dutt

M.S. thesis

Project: Evaluating the effects of grazing practices on forage production, nutrition diversity, and soil moisture in the Marfa Grasslands, Texas

Advisor:
Drs. Justin T. French and Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez

M.S. thesis

Project: Dietary overlap and temporal resource partitioning of desert bighorn sheep, aoudad, and mule deer in the Van Horn Mountains, Texas

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez and Justin T. French

M.S. thesis

Project: Developing monitoring methods to assess the effectiveness of hydrology improvements to retain topsoil using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez, Justin T. French, and Kevin Urbanczyk

Ph.D. dissertation

Project: Understanding recolonization efforts of black bears in the Big Bend region

Advisor:
Drs. Louis A. Harveson and Warren Conway

M.S. thesis

Project: Fine-scale habitat use and survival of scaled quail associated with seasons

Advisor:
Dr. Ryan S. Luna

M.S. thesis

Project: Restoration of native vegetation in areas invaded by Lehmann’s lovegrass

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez, Justin T. French, and Louis A. Harveson

M.S. thesis

Project: Space use and disease risk in desert bighorn sheep

Advisor:
Drs. Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez and Justin T. French

M.S. thesis

Project: Treatment of woody invasive plant species in native grasslands and grassland avian community response

Advisor:
Drs. Maureen G. Frank and Carlos E. “Lalo” Gonzalez

M.S. thesis

Project: Using passive acoustic techniques to monitor an endangered gamebird species (Montezuma Quail)

Advisor:
Dr. Ryan S. Luna

Interested in joining our team? Visit the Sul Ross graduate admissions page for information on applying to our graduate program.