Our Commitment to Inclusion and Diversity

The Mims Lab is committed to fostering, facilitating, and promoting successful, fulfilling careers for all members including individuals from groups traditionally underrepresented and excluded from science. We aim to achieve this through cultivating an inclusive and collaborative work environment that values mentoring, open communication, and shared opportunity. We celebrate the ways in which our differences make us who we are and help us advance scientific research, conservation, outreach, and education. Our goal is to provide a safe and equitable environment for individuals of all identities - seen and unseen. We prioritize and strive to achieve:

Respectful and transparent communication
Cooperation, teamwork, and participation from all team members
Recruiting and mentoring of individuals from all backgrounds and identities
Inclusive and student-centered professional development opportunities
Respecting and celebrating our interests and lives outside the lab
Conducting ourselves according to Virginia Tech’s Principles of Community
Continued efforts to learn and improve as collaborators, mentors, and humans through training and feedback

Meet the members of the Mims Lab!

Principal Investigator

Meryl C. Mims, PhD

Meryl is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. She is also an affiliated faculty member with VT's Global Change Center. Meryl completed her Master's (2010) and PhD (2015) at the University of Washington in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. She then served as a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the U.S. Geological Survey in Corvallis, Oregon, before joining the faculty at Virginia Tech.

M.C. Mims Curriculum Vitae

postdoctoral researchers

dR. Jamie Bucholz

Jamie is a VT Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Steering Committee member with the VT Invasive Species Collaborative. Prior to joining the lab in Fall 2024, Jamie completed her PhD at the University of Alabama. Jamie studies the links between genomic diversity and community diversity, determine how historic and geographic factors contribute to patterns of genetic diversity, and use genomic tools to stop the spread of invasive species.

Graduate Students

Sam Silknetter

Sam Silknetter is a PhD candidate in the Mims Lab and joined our team in January 2019. His research is part of the NSF funded StreamCLIMES project, a collaborative team whose goal is to investigate how drying affects stream ecosystems in different climates across the southern United States. Specifically, Sam is using landscape genetics/genomics to understand how aquatic invertebrates respond to stream drying. Sam received a B.S. in Ecology at Susquehanna University in 2014, where his undergraduate research focused on the response of fish and benthic macroinvertebrate taxa to severe flooding. Sam then worked for an environmental consulting firm focused on wetland conservation and herpetology before pursuing his M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology at Clemson University. His Master’s research focused on positive species interactions in both fisheries and broader freshwater systems.

Grace o’malley

Grace began her PhD in the lab in Fall 2021. She graduated from Allegheny College in 2020 with a B. S. in biology. During her time there, she worked on various projects, including monitoring the health of local waterways and working with the PA Fish and Boat commission on identifying suitable streams for brook trout reintroduction. She is excited work with amphibians and learning new skill sets!

erin crone

Erin joined the lab in Fall 2023 as a Research Scientist and began her PhD in the lab in Fall 2024. Her research is part of a collaborative effort to assess the vulnerability of U.S. vertebrates to climate change. Erin received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Bellarmine University and her M.S. in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from Colorado State University. Her Master’s research focused on understanding the many roles of invasive species within urban food webs. She especially enjoys working with amphibians and reptiles, and is excited to play a role in finding conservation solutions for imperiled species.

Nick Sybertz

Nick joined the lab as a PhD student in Fall 2024. He has a passion for genetics, genomics, and related fields as they pertain to ecology, evolution, conservation, and disease dynamics. For his PhD, Nick is conducting a conservation genomics study for the endangered reticulated flatwoods salamander (Ambystoma bishopi) on Eglin Air Force Base in northwestern Florida. Nick’s research is helping to inform monitoring of reticulated flatwoods salamander populations and evaluate the success of translocation efforts. Prior to joining the Mims Lab, Nick earned a B.S. in Wildlife Conservation and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech in 2018. Following his undergraduate studies, Nick earned his M.S. in Fish and Wildlife Sciences from Virginia Tech in 2021 studying blood transcriptional markers in wild banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) infected with the novel tuberculosis pathogen, Mycobacterium mungi, in northern Botswana.

undergraduate researchers

brianna corder

Brianna is a junior who joined the Mims lab in Fall 2023 who is currently working towards a Bachelor's degree in Wildlife Conservation. She is currently working with landscape genetics of invasive species using software to conduct systematic literature review. Her current area of interest is endangered mammals and plans to work with them in the future. In her free time, she likes to play video games, read, and play with her three cats.

Jocelyn Perry

Jocelyn is a junior pursuing a bachelor's degree in wildlife conservation. She is working with the Mims Lab to understand the use of genetics in improving the management of invasive species through a systematic literature review. Her current interests include endangered species and using genetics and physiology to help understand their status. She especially enjoys working with mammals and fish. In her free time, Jocelyn also loves to ski and camp.

The Lab’s Lab

ash

Ash is Meryl & Scott’s Labrador retriever. She joined the lab in May 2020 and loves nothing more than days on the river & trails. Her hobbies include tennis (balls) and splashing in streams. She’s happy to lend a hand in the field, accept belly rubs, and lift spirits whenever it’s required!

Lab Alumni

2024: Dr. Joe Drake: Postdoc - Now a postdoc with the Peterman Lab at OSU

Trinity Williams, Alana Harris, Monty Copeland: Undergrad Researchers

2023: Dr. Chloe Moore: PhD - Defended in April 2023

Dr. Traci DuBose: Postdoc - Now an ORISE USFS Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr. Amanda Hyman: Postdoc - Now a Foreign Species Biologist with the USFWS

Dr. Daryl Trumbo: Postdoc - Now an Assistant Professor at Colorado State University, Pueblo

Jessica Dade, Jonas Guilliano, Emma Levon, Mason Maurer, Madeline Potter, Charlotte Tury, Isabella Adamo,

Triniti Baskar: Undergrad Researchers

2022: Vj. Catalan, Kris Lawhorn, Danyal Rashid, Divya Singh: Undergrad Researchers

2021: Yarelis Martinez, Tess Alexander, Mallory Fields, Howard Dunleavy: Undergrad Researchers

2020: Elizabeth Shadle, M.S.: Master’s Student - Now with Gulf Islands National Seashore

Mackenzi Hallmark: Undergrad Researcher and Technician

Jacob Helmann, Mackenzi Hallmark, Tora Decker Griffith, Shahdin Ghaffari: Undergrad Researchers

2019: Dr. Val Buxton: Postdoc

Kara Hall, Sabine St. Amour, Alexis “AJ” Jackson, Georgia Boley, Ashley Fitzgerald: Undergrad Researchers

2018: Dr. Jen Smith: Postdoc - Now an Assistant Professor at UTSA

Ye Chen, London Hughes, Janhvi Shah, Tara Tavakolian, Noah Wax: Undergraduate Researchers

2017: Steffany Yamada: Lab Manager - Now the Lab Manager for The Langwig Lab at VT

the lab through the years

Fall 2022. Back (L - R) Mason Maurer, Charlotte Tury, Madeline Potter, Kristopher (Kris) Lawhorn, Grace O’Malley, Jessica Dade, Dr. Daryl Trumbo; Front (L - R): Jonas Guilliano, Chloe Moore. Not pictured: PI Mims (on parental leave!); Drs. Joe Drake, Amanda Hyman, and Traci DuBose; Sam Silknetter.

Spring 2022 (*Not pictured: postdoc Dr. Traci DuBose; undergraduate researchers Vj. Catalan, Charlotte Tury, Divya Singh, Jessica Dade, and Danyal Rashid*)