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Dr. Demian Willette |
LAB MEMBERS
Josephine Marie Campos |
Nick Genovese |
Is a Biology senior who joined the lab in 2024. Joy has worked on several projects and is trained in eDNA metabarcoding. Her current research is on the efficiency and utility of a custom-designed water retention device to help improve native plant survivorship when seedlings are planted on steep slopes. Joy is also a co-author on the eDNA from spiderweb publication.
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Nick joined the lab in 2024 and is a senior biology major. Nick has become the lab’s entomologist; rapidly becoming our lab’s insect expert where he’s applied this to biodiversity monitoring within the Ascot Hills Park micro-forest and micro-grassland projects. Nick has also trained in the use of eDNA metabarcoding.
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Logan Lewis 
Logan joined the lab in 2025 and is a junior in Biology. Logan has supported multiple lab projects, primarily biodiversity work in the micro-forest. He has also trained in eDNA metabarcoding, and will be leading new research entering his junior year.
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Jaycee Fagundes
Jaycee joined the lab in 2026 and is a sophomore in Environmental Science. Our newest lab member, she’s already trained with biodiversity detection technology and methods at Ascot Hills Park and will be supporting new projects in this year.
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PAST LAB MEMBERS
2015 - 2020
Sofia Esteves
Lab member 2015-2019. Sofia was a co-author on the 2017 seafood paper and continued working on ecolabeled seafood genetics research until she graduated with her B.S. in Biochemistry. Sofia is currently in medical school at Western Michigan.
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Nick Pilaud
Lab member 2015-2019. Nick was a co-author on the 2017 seafood paper and worked on brush pile research. He graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Science and is currently a tech at The Bay Foundation.
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Sarah Shapiro
Lab member 2016-2017. Sarah worked on the Ascot Hills Park projects. She graduated with her B.S. in Biology and is currently in medical school
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Jackie Galvez
Lab member 2016-2019. Jackie worked the effects of climate change on walnut seed germination. Jackie graduated with a B.S. in Biology and is now earning her Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
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Sophie Deen
Lab member 2016-2019. Sophie was lead author on the slime mold & 3D printing experiments to investigate traffic patterns in Los Angeles. Sophie graduated with a B.S. in Health and Human Science and is currently earning her doctorate in Physical Therapy at USC.
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Candice Cross
Lab member 2017-2019. Candice studies the ecology, spread, and carbon sequestration capacity of the invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea. She graduated with her B.S. in Biology and is currently earning her Ph.D. at UCLA.
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Matt Sheridan
Lab member 2018-2019. As a CURes researcher, Matt collaborated with the lab in developing a molecular genetics tool to distinguish prey types in coyote scat. Matt graduated with his B.S. in Biology and is currently in medical school
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Xiaoya Selena Yuan
Lab member 2018-2019. Selena worked on multiple research project in the lab including the on-going Los Angeles Seafood Monitoring project and eco-labeled seafood project, which is being prepared for publication.
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Mary Balducci
Lab member 2018-2019. Mary joined the lab for her senior capstone research contributing to the eco-labeled seafood project. Mary graduated with her B.S. in Biology.
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Quinn Lanners
Quinn briefly worked on the Ascot Hills Park projects. Quinn will graduate in Spring 2019 and has a job lined up in Minnesota.
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Kelcie Chiquillo
Lab Member 2015-2020. Kelcie is a doctoral candidate at UCLA. Kelcie’s dissertation examines multiple ecological and evolutionary questions about the invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea both in the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas. Kelcie has received multiple awards and grants for her research, and has several manuscripts in review and in the works.
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Sydney Lee
Lab member 2017-2020. Sydney worked on the lab’s multi-year project to understand the impact of a warming climate on black walnut seed germination rates. Sydney graduated with a B.S. in Biology in 2020.
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Kesterlyn Wilson
Lab member 2017-2020. Kesterlyn worked on assessing the value of urban park ecosystem services in Los Angeles. She co-authored the 2021 Marine Policy paper with a second paper in prep. Kesterlyn is currently working as a genetics laboratory tech.
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Marie Smith
Lab member 2018-2020. Marie worked on using molecular tools to distinguish Zostera marina from the cryptic California seagrass Zostera pacifica. She also co-authored a 2021 Marine Policy paper. Marie is currently working as a molecular genetics technician.
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2021
Leo Gonzalez-Smith
Lab member 2018-2021. Leo explored the evolutionary origins of a threatened freshwater sardine, Sardinella tawilis, that is endemic to Taal Lake – a volcanic lake formed only 300 years ago. Leo uses SNPs to genotype and contrast S. tawilis from its marine sister species S. hualiensis for estimating when species divergence occurred.
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Anna Horvath
Lab member 2018-2021. Anna worked previously on ecosystem service data from Ascot Hills Park. Anna currently partners with Stacy who together are characterizing the composition of black walnut species present at Ascot Hills Park, namely the native Juglans californica and introduced J. nigra.
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Stacy Lam
Lab member 2018-2021. Stacy originally worked with Mary using molecular tools on the Los Angeles Seafood Monitoring Project. Stacy’s current work with Anna aims to use molecular and morphological metrics to identify genetic diversity of black walnut trees (native Juglans californica and introduced J. nigra) to inform future restoration efforts at the park.
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Ian Wright
Lab member 2021. Ian’s capstone research project uses a combination of UAV/remote sensing imagery to generate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) to characterize vegetative features at the urban Ascot Hills Park.
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2022
Evie Chokler
Lab member 2020-2022. Evie worked with Rukhbaan and Evan on developing an assay to quantify the tumor suppressing capacity of extracts from the medicinal plan Leonurus japonicus.
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Rukhbaan Hayer
Rukhbaan was in the lab from 2020-2022. His work included examining seed germination rates of northern California black walnut trees and medicinal properties of native California plants.
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Evan Shen
Lab member 2020-2022. Evan works on seed germination of the northern California black walnut with Rukhbaan and has done recent work on rhizobacteria with Dr. Michelle Lum’s lab at LMU.
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Amber Hershewe
Lab member 2021-2022. Amberly work builds on the lab’s earlier work by Stacy and Anna to genetically and morphologically differentiate native J. californica and introduced J. nigra walnut trees at Ascot Hills Park.
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Hovsep Oganesyan
Hovsep joined the lab in 2022 and is in LMU’s post-bac program. He is part of the team working on analyzing 10 years of sushi genetic data collected from LA restaurants since 2012.
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2023
Rosetta Yi Fan Hu
Rosetta was part of our lab from 2021-2023. She graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science and led the development of our lab’s eDNA Dashboard tool.
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Kelli Andrade
Kelli joined the lab in 2022 and is a senior Environmental Science major. Kelli’s research is on seafood mislabeling at the end of the supply chain.
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Anushka Brito
Anuskha joined the lab in 2022 and recently graduated from LMU in International Studies. Anushka collaborates with the lab in research on the potential role of emerging genetic tools in combating illegal fishing and modern slavery at sea.
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Yana Makievskaya
Yana joined the lab in 2022 and is collaborating on the black walnut seed germination experiments under varying temperature treatments. Yana is a Senior in Biology.
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Donya Moghtader
Donya joined the lab in Spring 2022 and is a senior in Biology. She currently works on testing the utility of brush piles on the restoration of native animal biodiversity.
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Lauren Quesada
Lo joined the lab in 2022 and is a senior in Biology. Lo leads research on eDNA metabarcoding and how it can be used as a monitoring tool to help detect the presence of endangered horseshoe crab species in Yucatan octopus' fisheries in Mexico.
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2024
Aria Fulton |
Daniel Rugless |
Alexis Wong |
Aria joined the lab in 2022. She is a senior Biology major and Education minor, and is a graduate student in LMU’s Education Studies Master’s program. Aria’s research uses eDNA to detect invasive marine species along Antarctica’s coast.
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Daniel joined the lab in 2023 and is a Seaver post-bac. Daniel has a B.S. in Psychology from CSUN. Daniel’s project is looking at links between natural stormwater infrastructure and health perspectives in LA’s eastside parks.
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Alexis joined the lab in 2023 and is a senior Environmental Science major. Alexis leads research on quantifying biodiversity in the microforest project in east LA.
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2025
Sabriya Seid |
Grace Landers |
Alexa Siglar |
Coby Schumitzky |
Sabriya joined the lab in 2021 and graduate with a double major in Biology and Studio Arts. Her thesis research on eDNA from spiderwebs was published in 2026. Sabriya was on a Fulbright in 2025-2026, and is now in her PhD at Michigan State University.
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Grace joined the lab in 2023 and graduated in 2025 with her B.S. in Biology. Grace’s research on ecosystem service in 10 LA urban parks in currently in review for publication. Grace is now starting her Dental School program!
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Alexa joined the lab in 2024 and graduated in 2025 with her B.S. in Environmental Science. Alexa’s research on urban park restoration patterns using remote sensing is being prepared for publication. She currently works at Disney on environmental sustainability.
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Coby joined the lab in 2023 and graduated in 2025 with his B.S. in Computer Science. Coby’s advancement of the Ascot App has lead to its wider adoption in tree monitoring in LA. The work was published in 2025. After graduating, Coby is working in industry.
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2026
Stephanie Flores |
Lauren Fabre |
Ashley Lee |
Stephanie joined the lab in 2023 and graduate in 2026. She led outstanding biodiversity within the 10,000 sq ft micro-forest at Ascot, including multiple presentations. She is co-author on the Ascot App publication. Her next plan is Dental School.
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Lauren was a member of the lab from 2022 to 2026 when she graduated with her B.S. in Biology. Lauren’s research focused on an experimental fire-resilience restoration design of a micro-grassland at Ascot Hills Park. She presented her work at multiple conferences. Lauren is now moving on to a graduate program in biomedical research.
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Ashley was part of the Willette Lab from 2022 to 2026, leading work on the use of eDNA to detect pollinator species visiting flowers within the Ascot micro-forest. Ashley helped refine our lab’s eDNA methods and trained the next cohort of lab members in the technique. Ashley presented at multiple scientific meetings.
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Katie McGinnis |
Khalid Alani |
Dana Al Sayer |
Katie joined the lab for the 2025-2026 academic year and co-led research exploring the germination rate of Juglans californica Southern California black walnut seeds under multiple temperature scenarios. Katie graduated with a B.S. in Environmental Science in Spring 2026.
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Khalid joined the Willette Lab from summer 2025 through his graduation with a B.S. in Biology in Spring 2026. Khalid co-led the Juglans californica Southern California black walnut germination experiment, including looking at the role of pulse temperature changes. Khalid is currently preparing for Dental School.
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Dana joined the lab from early 2025 through December 2025 when she graduated from LMU with her B.S. in Biology. Dana collaborated on multiple lab projects, including the pollinator eDNA work, Ascot Hills Park micro-forest projects, and the micro-grassland research. Dana is currently in graduate school.
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COLLABORATORS
Our lab frequently works with top-notch scientists and experts from around the world. Below is a list of some of our collaborators!
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Dr. Anchana Prathep
Anchana is a Professor at Prince of Songkhla University in Thailand and has and continues to collaborate with Demian on multiple scientific education programs. Dr. Anna Toline
Anna is a marine scientist and Ocean Program Coordinator for the National Park Service Southeast region and partners with the lab on risk assessment and management strategies targeted at the invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea within US National Parks, including the Virgin Islands National Park and the Coral Reef National Monument. Mr. Duncan Leadbitter
Mudjie is a Research Scientist II in the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (Philippines) and has partnered on multiple food security and fisheries management projects with the lab. He also was a teammate of Demian’s on local basketball leagues in the Philippines. Dr. Eli Meyer
Eli is an Assistant Professor at Oregon State University and partners with the lab in the use of cutting-edge molecular methods, and is the co-organizer of our summer workshops on Catalina Island. DR. ELIZABETH SBROCCO
Elizabeth is a research scholar with the Ronin Institute and partners with the lab in on-going ecological niche modeling of the invasive seagrass, Halophila stipulacea, in the Caribbean. |
DR. GIDON WINTERS
Gidon is a researcher at the Dead Sea & Arava Science Center (Israel) and partners with the lab in investigating the genetic basis for the rapid, global expansion of invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea. DR. INES GONZALEZ VIANA, DR. LUCY GILLIS, AND DR. RAPTI SIRIWARDANA-DE ZOYSA
Ines, Lucy and Rapti are current research collaborators investigating social, ecological, and biological questions related to the invasive seagrass across the Caribbean Sea. DR. MUDJIE SANTOS
Mudjie is a Research Scientist II in the National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (Philippines) and has partnered on multiple food security and fisheries management projects with the lab. He also was a teammate of Demian’s on local basketball leagues in the Philippines. |
DR. PAUL BARBER
Paul is a Professor at UCLA and partners with the lab in using molecular genetic tools to help address challenges with Illegal, Unregulated, and Unreported (IUU) fishing and seafood fraud. He is also an esteemed mentor of Demian’s. DR. PEGGY FONG
Peggy is a Professor at UCLA and partners with the lab on ecological studies on the invasive seagrass Halophila stipulacea in the Caribbean. She is also a cherished mentor of Demian’s. DR. SAMANTHA CHENG
Sam is a post-doctoral scholar with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) at UC Santa Barbara and partners with the lab on a range of fisheries management topics. DR. SASCHA STEINER
Sascha is the founder and director of ITME and TROPIC and has been a long-time collaborator and colleague of the lab on our invasive seagrass work, primarily in Dominica (West Indies). |
Links to Collaborating Partners and Institutes
