2007-08 PhD and Post-doctoral Fellowship Recipients

Amy grew up in the Hudson River Valley of New York. She earned her B.A. from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida before joining the department of Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology at the University of Maryland–College Park for her master’s degree. Since early in her academic career, Amy has pursued international science, particularly in developing areas. During her master’s she worked for an international lake conservation organization where she first learned about Lake Chapala, Mexico- the present focus of her doctoral research. Amy joined Virginia Tech in January 2005, and since has been building an international research program in collaboration with a local Mexican university. Her research in Mexico explores to the effects of an invasive weed on the ecology of the lake with an emphasis on waterbird ecology. As part of her AdvanceVT fellowship, Amy looks forward to exploring the role of women in international natural resource science and field ecology.

Lori Blanc, Postdoctoral Fellow, Biological Sciences

Lori Blanc is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech and will defend her dissertation in July 2007. Her areas of research expertise are avian community ecology and conservation biology. Recent work includes studies of how interactions between different species within an avian community can influence community structure and dynamics, and subsequently, impact endangered species management. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She then worked as a visiting scholar at the University of Queensland in Australia, followed by a position as a field biologist for an environmental consulting firm conducting threatened and endangered species management. She is currently an instructor for Virginia Tech’s Earth Sustainability Core Curriculum program. As a Post-doc at Virginia Tech, she will continue to teach in the Earth Sustainability program and conduct additional research on the relationship between avian community complexity and forest age.

Armaghan Salehian, Postdoctoral Fellow, Mechanical Engineering

Armaghan Salehian started her doctoral research in the fall of 2004 at the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures at Virginia Tech. Her research interests include modeling and design of smart materials, finite element methods, design and vibration of large inflatable satellites using homogenization methods, and composite structures. Her PhD work focuses on vibration and control of large inflatable space structures using embedded macro-fiber composites. Armaghan received a Master of Science degree from  Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts in the June of 2003. For her master’s thesis, she performed research on wave propagation in composite laminates and has used the theory of wavelets to detect the damage in these structures. She also received a Master of Science degree from  University of Tehran in 2000 where she developed inverse methods for estimation of heat conductance coefficients of gases inside a rocket nozzle. She obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from  Sharif University of Technology in 1997.

Kristine Urschel, Postdoctoral Fellow, Animal and Poultry Sciences

Kristine Urschel is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Originally from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture, with a major in Animal Science, from the University of Alberta. She then when on to pursue her doctoral studies in Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Alberta, and defended her thesis, “Arginine synthesis and metabolism in neonatal piglets,” in January 2007. Dr. Urschel joined Virginia Tech in April 2007 and her research interests include studying amino acid and protein metabolism in horses using isotopic techniques and examining the factors that regulate muscle protein synthesis in horses, particularly in older horses where muscle wasting occurs.