Researchers

Lee Kats

Dean of Seaver College
Frank R. Seaver Chair of Natural Science

Dr. Lee Kats' current research is focused on the ecology and conservation biology of stream animals. This includes examining possible causes of amphibian decline. He and his students focus their studies on the effects of ultraviolet radiation, wildfire, and the introduction of exotic species. He has a significant background in the areas of animal behavior, conservation, animal ecology, tropical biology, and stream ecology.  Dr. Kats conducts most of his research in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California; however, he also leads classes and conducts research in Costa Rica and Argentina.

Dr. Kats has taught at Pepperdine for over 35 years. He currently serves as the Dean of Seaver College, as well as Academic Director of the Center for Faith and the Common Good, and a professor of biology. Dr. Kats has published numerous research articles on amphibian ecology and conservation ecology, served on the Board of Editors for the scientific journal Conservation Biology since 1996, and the editorial board of Hydrobiologia, the European scientific journal on freshwater biology, since 2000.

Full biography

Tiffany Cho

Biology (Applied Mathematics), Class of 2026

Tiffany is a senior biology major minoring in applied mathematics. She has been in the lab since the summer of 2024, and has experience working with USGS surveys, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and animal care. After graduating, she is planning to take at least two gap years to focus on her research interests before applying to medical school. 

Andrew Fukunaga

Biology, Class of 2029

Andrew Fukunaga is a current freshman on the pre-med track. His research interests include ecology and many aspects of healthcare, particularly neuroscience. As a new member of the lab, he is eager to learn as much as he can and eventually try to lead his own project.

Ethan Groom

Biology, Class of 2028

Ethan Groom is a sophomore biology student on a pre dental track. He joined the lab this year and is excited to get into the field to study biodiversity in the local Malibu area. When not busy with school, he is a professional off-road racing driver.

Tom Kim

Biology, Class of 2028

Tom Kim is a freshman biology major on the pre-dental track. He joined the lab in October of 2025.

Dayo Lee

Psychology, Class of 2026

Dayo Lee is a senior psychology major pursuing a career in veterinary medicine. She joined the lab during the fall of her sophomore year and has been involved in numerous projects and animal husbandry ever since. Outside of this lab, she expands her experience by working with domestic and livestock animals, while also rehabilitating injured wildlife in the NICU and ICU. After graduating, Dayo will continue her education at veterinary school and continue to contribute to conservation efforts. 

Allison Lincicome

Biology, Class of 2026

Allison is a senior biology major and great books minor who joined the lab in fall 2024. She is involved in animal care for the lab’s reptiles and amphibians, and works on the NFWF, Prop 50, and newt rehabilitation projects in partnership with NPS. Last summer, she co-led the USGS survey team to study various streams in the Santa Monica Bay Watershed, including sites that were affected by the Franklin and Palisades fires. After graduating, Allison plans to continue animal research by pursuing a doctorate studying zoonotic diseases in wild primate populations.

Hailey Manela

Biology, Class of 2026

Hailey is a senior biology major on the pre-med track. Her research interests include neuroscience, ecology, and botany. She has been in the lab since August 2024 and has experience working with USGS surveys, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and animal care. After graduating, she is planning to take a gap year to work as a medical assistant and apply to medical school.

Annie Markarian

Biology, Class of 2026

Annie Markarian is a senior biology major and art minor on the pre-med track. Her research interests include cardiology, ecology, and biomechanics. She joined the lab in the summer of 2025 and has experience working with USGS surveys and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. After graduating, she is planning on taking a gap year to work as an emergency medical technician in Los Angeles, CA, before attending medical school.

Julianna Mourot

Biology, Class of 2029

Julianna is a freshman biology major on the pre-vet track. She only recently joined the lab and has been a member for a few months now, involved with the lab in protecting native endangered species in California. Once she graduates, she plans on finding a way to work with animals through preservation or conservation for wildlife.

Kaleb Roldan

Biology, Class of 2027

Kaleb is a junior biology major and French minor who joined the lab in Spring 2025. In the lab, Kaleb leads a team of researchers on a new medicinal leech project that he launched in Spring 2025. He is a medical assistant and practice coordinator at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute in alliance with UCLA Health, where he continues to deepen his understanding of patient care and orthopedics. He aspires to become a spine surgeon and contribute to innovative research in neuroscience and orthopedic regeneration.

George Summers

Biology, Class of 2029

George Summers is a freshman biology major on a pre-med track. His research interests include ecology and neuroscience. As a new member of the lab, he is looking forward to helping out with animal care and stream data collection as part of the lab’s work with NFWF and Prop 50.

Tyler Whitmore

Biology, Class of 2029

Tyler Whitmore is a freshman biology major interested in pursuing a veterinarian degree. He used to work on a ranch taking care of horses and fostered cats.  He joined the lab in October 2025.

David Addison

Biology, Class of 2022

David's research interests included studying the effects of insecticides in stream ecology. He was a member of the lab since his freshman year and led a project focused on the effects of tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin released by the California newt, on mosquito motility, morphology, and mortality. Furthermore, he collected data for the USGS stream surveys, and he was one of the student leaders of the lab.

Research Projects: Reclaimed Water & Tadpole Behavior

Andrew Beggs

Current Research Assistant

Biology (Great Books), Class of 2024

Andrew will end up in medical school at some point, but joined the lab the summer after graduation to explore his interest in ecology. A biology major and great books minor, Andrew is fascinated by the ways humans have and continue to disrupt the functioning of the environments and species around them. While applying to medical school, he works full time studying these interactions, seeking to leverage this knowledge to facilitate ecologically-conscious healthcare systems.

Veronica Boyle

Biology, Class of 2024

Veronica joined the laboratory in the summer of 2023 to help in surveying streams for the USGS partnership. She is interested in all things animal-biology-related as she wants to pursue vet medicine post-grad. She is also passionate about educating herself about environmental science and conservation.

Nate Dardano

Current Research Assistant

Biology, Class of 2025

Nate is a full-time research assistant who joined the lab in January 2024. He is interested in a variety of topics regarding how environmental changes and invasive species affect amphibian and fish physiology, behavior, and ecosystem interactions. He is leading a project for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation conducting invasive crayfish removals while protecting the endangered unarmored threespine stickleback fish.

Research Project: Wildfire Impacts to Populations of a California Endemic Newt

Elise DeArment

Biology, Class of 2022

Elise's research interests included investigating the impact of wildfire on streams in the Santa Monica Mountains. She engaged in several semesters of research investigating how water quality changes after wildfire, and how this could impact both native and invasive species. She was also involved in the USGS partnership for three years and was one of the student leaders of the lab.

Research Projects: Wildfire, Water Quality, and Invasive Species

Nolan Gentile

Biology, Class of 2023

Nolan's interests include riparian ecology, geomorphology, and invasive species studies. He was a member of the lab during all four of his years at Pepperdine. Nolan currently works with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains as an exotic species controller. He is working on a project studying the effects of seasonal barriers on upmigration behavior as well as the removal of Red Swamp Crayfish, Largemouth Bass, Common Carp, and Bull Frogs.

Research Projects: Wildfire & Biodiversity

Jack Keoseyan

Biology, Class of 2022

Jack's primary interests included the effects of urbanization and invasive species on native species’ behavior and how this affects conservation practices. He specifically researched how water quality affects the predator evasion capabilities of the Pacific tree frog’s tadpoles. He was involved in the laboratory’s USGS partnership and hopes to continue his work in conservation biology.

Research Projects: Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis)

Merry Kimble

Biology (Great Books), Class of 2025

Merry was a part of the lab for all four years of her Pepperdine experience. In the lab, she had experience in animal care, research, and field work, and working alongside organizations like USGS and NFWF. She has a special interest in amphibian conservation and plans to work in that field after graduation, before returning to school for a Doctorate.

Conor Kramer

Biology, Class of 2023

Conor’s research interests surrounded geomorphology of streams in riparian ecosystems, the effects of wildfire, and biodiversity. These three interests combined in his research laboratory studies on the effects of wildfire on the geomorphology of streams in riparian ecosystems in the Santa Monica Mountains, and how this could affect the faunal biodiversity in surrounding stream habitats.

Research Projects: Wildfire & Biodiversity

Hayley Lunn

Biology, Class of 2024

Hayley's interests included behavioral, stream, and conservation ecology. Hayley participated in multiple experiments during her involvement, including analyzing and conducting experiments with poison dart frogs. Hayley was involved in the USGS partnership, and collected data from streams throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. Additionally, Hayley provided animal care and served as one of the student leaders of the lab.

Lucia Maldonado

Current Research Assistant

Biology, Class of 2023

Lucia's interests include studying the behavioral cues of animals. She was a member of the lab since her junior year and was a part of several projects focused on stream organism behaviors. Lucia collected data for the USGS stream database. Furthermore, she provided animal care and served as one of the student leaders of the lab, a role in which she has since continued to serve.

Conor McGaha

Biology, Class of 2024

Connor's interests included ecology and wildlife conservation, particularly as they pertain to vertebrates, as well as interspecies competition and predation. After joining the laboratory his junior year, Connor spent that summer conducting USGS surveys with the laboratory and thoroughly enjoyed spending time in nature with such amazing people. Aside from participating in animal care on campus, Connor analyzed the effects of frogs’ secretions as they pertain to UV ray protection with his research partner Kinkade Mcmurray.

Kinkade Mcmurray

Biology, Class of 2025

Kinkade's emphasis was on behavior and amphibian ecology. He was involved with the lab for 3 years on the NFWF and Prop 50 grants while also heading his own research on crayfish-tadpole chemical cue interactions. After graduating he plans to graduate school to continue research in amphibian ecology.

Research Projects: Crayfish Tadpole Chemical Cue

Analise Nash

Biology (Hispanic Studies & Sustainability), Class of 2022

Analise's interest included the effects of environmental changes on native and invasive species' interactions. She researched analyzing how chemical cues from invasive mosquitofish and native Hyre frogs influence crayfish aggression. She is also interested in environmental policy and will be attending Pepperdine's School of Public Policy.

Research Projects: Invasive Crayfish & Fish

Kyle Osornia

Biology, Class of 2023

Kyle joined the research laboratory the summer following graduation. Kyle joined the laboratory to gain valuable experience in field-based research, with the hopes of exploring the relationship between the stream animals and the changing climate. Both the USGS and laboratory experiments conducted during his time in the laboratory will help him prepare for the future graduate program he intends to pursue after an initial gap year.

Dani Rizzo

Biology, Class of 2022

As an NSF Student-As-Scholar Fellow, Dani studied the impacts of melanized spots on invasive crayfish feeding behavior. Throughout her undergraduate career, Dani was committed to both conservation and outreach, presenting at research symposiums including the Southern California Conference for Undergraduate Research and the Seaver College Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium.

Max Sprute

Biology & History, Class of 2022

Max's research interests included behavioral ecology, population genetics, genomics, phylogeography, and speciation. Max was a member of Dr. Kats' lab for almost five years helping on multiple projects, and ran the animal care on campus for the laboratory. In addition he was involved with the laboratory’s USGS work during the summers. 

Zach Tisinger

Biology (Applied Mathematics, Pre-Dental Track), Class of 2025

Zach's research interests involve studying the breeding dynamics of fish and amphibians, with the ultimate goal of contributing to a better understanding of ecological factors that influence aquatic life cycles and sustainability. He was involved in animal care and stream data collection as part of the lab's partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Andrew Wang

Animal Care Lead

Biology (Great Books/Chemistry), Class of 2025

Andrew Wang worked in Dr. Kats’ behavior ecology laboratory since his first year. He is interested in herpetological diseases, behavior ecology, and cellular biology. Andrew was part of multiple experiments during his involvement within the lab and involved in animal care for the campus. In summer 2024, Andrew collected data from streams throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, supporting the laboratory’s USGS partnership research.

Elyse Vetter

Biology, Class of 2022

Elyse completed an honors thesis on the emergence of widespread disease symptoms in a local population of California newts. As an NSF Student-As-Scholar Fellow, Elyse studied the impacts of chemical cues on invasive crayfish aggression. She worked collaboratively with the USGS, serving as a fieldworker and survey coordinator. Elyse presented her research findings at the NPS and Partners Annual Stream Team Meeting and the Seaver College Research and Scholarly Achievement Symposium.