Our team

Are you interested in joining our team? We are looking for talented and passionate Postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers. See the Opportunities tab for more info!

Dr. Kevin C. Rose

Dr. Rose received his Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from Miami University studying the causes and consequences of variation in ultraviolet radiation in aquatic ecosystems. Following his Ph.D., Dr. Rose went on to a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship at the U.S. National Science Foundation, and a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Rose joined at the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2015 as the Frederic R. Kolleck ’52 Career Development Chair in Freshwater Ecology. When he isn't working, Dr. Rose is chasing after his kids, fixing something around the house, getting into the outdoors, or volunteering in his community.

Email: rosek4@rpi.edu
Google Scholar
Rensselaer faculty webpage

Current lab members

Mike Kelly

Email: kellym4@rpi.edu

Mike is a PhD student in the multidisciplinary sciences PhD program at Rensselaer. His research focuses on leveraging advanced aquatic sensors and process-based simulation modeling to understand and forecast harmful algal blooms. Studying a diverse group of water bodies including Skaneateles Lake, Lake George, Chautauqua Lake, all in New York State, and Capaum Pond, on Nantucket, MA, Mike hopes to answer broad questions on how interplay between physics, chemistry, and biology within ecosystems enables and triggers harmful algal blooms. Mike is also a full-time Research Engineer at IBM Research, working on the Jefferson Project at Lake George. "It was our early scientific findings from this project that inspired me to further integrate my engineering efforts into ecosystem studies. Joining Professor Rose's lab was the perfect opportunity for me to explore this space.", Mike says. "The interests, direction, and resources of the Rose Lab fully enable me to perform this impactful research."

Jenna Robinson

Email: robinj8@rpi.edu

Jenna is a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer. Her research focuses on spatial and temporal variability in ecosystem metabolism and greenhouse gas dynamics in lakes. Her work uses a network of high-frequency sensors in combination with long-term data and manual sampling in lakes in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania and the Adirondack State Park in New York. Her research projects include identifying the drivers of within-lake spatiotemporal variability in lake metabolism, within and among-lake spatiotemporal variability in methane and carbon dioxide production and emissions, and characterizing the metabolic uncoupling of dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide in lakes. Additionally, Jenna has actively contributed to projects within
the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) and is a co-chair of the Graduate Student Association (GSA). Jenna has also been involved in scientific outreach initiatives; she was the chair of the GLEON GSA Communications Committee for two years and has contributed to educational outreach at Lacawac Sanctuary. Before enrolling at Rensselaer, Jenna graduated from Marist College in 2018 with degrees in Biology and Environmental Science and Policy. In addition to researching lakes, Jenna enjoys running, climbing, and photography.

Max Glines

Email: glinem@rpi.edu

Max is a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer. His research focuses on variability in water clarity across large spatial and temporal gradients. His research leverages the use of satellite remote sensing and in-situ high-frequency environmental sensors to link patterns in water clarity to landscape, climatic, and biological processes at regional to global scales. Max’s research projects include linking high-frequency measurements to long-term monitoring in a global dataset of lakes, identifying the drivers of phenology in water clarity across North American lakes, analyzing long-term trends in water quality and quantity in reservoirs across southern Africa, relating changes in water clarity to common loon survival in boreal lakes, and detecting trends in browning and harmful algal blooms in Adirondack lakes. In addition, Max has worked as an intern for the Jefferson Project at IBM and actively contributes to projects as part of the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) on topics ranging from lake physics to community science. Aside from research, Max has led workshops on the use of R for statistical analyses for government employees and students in South Africa, has contributed to educational outreach at Lacawac Sanctuary, and has worked as a moderator for the Lake Physics working group at GLEON conferences. Before enrolling at Rensselaer, Max graduated from Penn State University in 2019 with a degree in Environmental Systems Engineering. When not working, Max likes to spend his time birding, hiking, or fishing.

Cassie Roberts

Email: roberc8@rpi.edu

Cassie is a PhD student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer. Her research focuses on understanding the seasonally of long-term changes in Adirondack lakes. Her research interests include the effects of meteorological forcings, such as precipitation events, on water quality and harmful algal blooms. She previously completed research at the Cary Institute on the effects of thermal layering in ponds and at Plymouth State University tying precipitation events caused by atmospheric rivers to water quality. She has also done conservation work through the Arizona Conservation Corps and Western Colorado Conservation Corps. Before enrolling in Rensselaer, Cassie graduated from Elizabethtown College with degrees in Environmental Science and French. When not doing research Cassie likes hiking, playing for Rensselaer's rugby team, and cross country skiing.

Dave Winkler

Email: winkld@rpi.edu

Dave Winkler is a Research Specialist at Rensselaer and the laboratory manager for our lab group. He has over 20 years of field and laboratory management experience working as a bridge to successfully translate project logistics between the lab and field. This includes new project implementation, field data collection, sensor deployments, and graduate/undergraduate student support. His research interests include fresh water ecology, invasive species, bio-acoustics, and remote sensing. Dave holds certifications as an advanced open water and scientific diver and is the lead pilot for the lab's Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV). His laboratory experience includes methodologies in several types of analytical chemistry, mainly focusing on freshwater ecology. Currently, Dave is involved in the LTREB long term sensor and monitoring program in collaboration with the Lacawac field station in Lake Ariel, PA. When not out in the field, Dave enjoys, photography, traveling, art, spending time with his family, tinkering on anything with a nut and bolt, taking in a good movie in the theater and diving in places that are not cold.

Current undergraduates

Keenan Ganz

Keenan is a senior undergraduate with a dual major in Computational Biology and Environmental Science. He is broadly interested in applying remote sensing tools to problems in ecology. Keenan is conducting research on lake basin morphometry. Maximum lake depth is an essential parameter for modeling deep water habitat, but ground-truthed information on lake depth is scarce. Therefore, models of maximum lake depth may be a useful tool to predict how deep water habitats will respond to climate change. The topography surrounding a lake basin is an intuitive, but only moderately effective predictor of lake depth. Other information, such as underlying bedrock, drainage network features, and lake polygon geometry is necessary to improve predictions of maximum lake depth. Prior to his research in the Global Water Lab, Keenan was an undergraduate research assistant for the SPRUCE experiment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a GIS analyst for Environmental Science Associates in Seattle, Washington. After graduating from Rensselaer in spring 2021, Keenan aims to continue on to a graduate degree program in remote sensing science. Outside of the lab, you’ll find Keenan rock climbing or working on Advent of Code problems.

Daniel Klee

Daniel is a senior undergraduate at Rensselaer majoring in Biology. He is broadly interested in ecology and evolutionary biology. His research focuses on developing algorithms to correct field-collected data on dissolved organic matter fluorescence, absorbance, and concentration to make measurements more comparable with laboratory measurements. The broader goal of this research is to better understand carbon fluxes to and through aquatic ecosystems, including the degree to which aquatic ecosystem dynamics are regulated or subsidized by external terrestrial carbon inputs. This work focuses on fDOM sensors and novel sensors measuring the fluorescence index, an indicator of the source of organic matter. After graduating from Rensselaer in spring 2022, Dan plans to attend graduate school in ecology and evolutionary biology.

Drake Bradshaw

Drake is a junior undergraduate at Rensselaer with a dual major in Environmental Science and Sustainability Studies. He is broadly interested in promoting human activities and practices that are beneficial to the human and non-human life they externally affect. Drake is conducting research to support the Ecosystems Technical Workgroup of the NYS Climate Impacts Assessment. His research focuses on reviewing and synthesizing findings from existing peer-reviewed literature which report on the impacts of anthropogenic climate change on Great Lakes ecosystems in New York State. This research will inform the Ecosystems chapter of the NYS Climate Impacts Assessment. Drake is a part-time sustainability data intern at Foresight Management largely working on energy consulting projects and is co-chair of the Composting Committee at Rensselaer which serves to develop a composting program on campus. After graduating from Rensselaer in spring 2023, Drake plans to continue gathering experience in sustainability and climate change while seeking a suitable graduate degree program.

Lab alumni

Monika LaPlante

Monika completed her MS in 2017. Her research focused on understanding patterns of dissolved organic matter among lakes using fluorescence dissolved organic matter profile measurements made in dozens of lakes around the world. Monika is now a Data Manager for Archbold Biological Station near Lake Placid, Florida and the owner of The Worker's Club, a modern boutique coworking space in Downtown Saratoga Springs, NY.

Luke Winslow

Luke was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the lab, 2017-2018. His research focused on understanding and forecasting continental-scale changes in lakes, including understanding lake warming rates and ice cover trends. Luke went on to obtain an Insight Data Science Fellowship and is now a Data Scientist and Manager with Wayfair, Inc.

Taylor Leach

Taylor was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the lab, 2018-2020. Her research focused on understanding biotic changes in Adirondack lakes and forecasting aquatic greenhouse gas fluxes. Taylor went on to obtain an Insight Data Science Fellowship and is now a Data Scientist with Tala.

McArd Joseph Mlotha

Joseph was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the lab, 2019-2020. His research focused on using satellite remote sensing to understand patterns of water quality in the Limpopo River Basin and broader Southern Africa region.

Steve Jane

Steve completed his PhD in 2020. His dissertation research focused on understanding ecosystem-scale changes in lakes, including dissolved organic matter quality and dissolved oxygen dynamics and responses of these characteristics to climate change. During his time as a PhD student in the lab, Steve was a Fulbright scholar in Sweden and participated in SESYNC research. Steve was, and still is, an active member of GLEON, the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network. Steve is now a Postdoctoral Researcher with Dr. Pete McIntyre at Cornell.

Jonathan Stetler

Jonathan completed his PhD in 2021. His dissertation research focused on understanding lake responses to environmental change, including climate-induced changes in thermal stratification and browning-induced nutrient, productivity, and fisheries changes. During his time as a PhD student in the lab, Jon obtained a NSF INTERN grant supplement and collaborated with Dr. Chris Solomon at the Cary Institute to forecast the effects of lake browning on lake fisheries. Jon also developed a series of outreach tools and media to engage the public in lake science. Jon is now a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Rensselaer and maintains a strong engagement with our lab group.