About Us

Our Mission

We are a team of interdisciplinary researchers and students at Virginia Tech.
Our aim is to improve the outcomes of ecological restoration through cutting edge research and capacity building.
We value strong ecological curiosity, tenacity in pursuit of knowledge, clear and honest communication, compassion, and mutual support.

Our Team: The Cecropias

Las Cecropias, August 2025. Left to right: Nate Duerr, Nicola Andrzejewski, Phoebe Judge, Sophia Vrh, Gabrielle Ripa, Sebastian Aparicio Vera, Mariel Fitzgerald, Leighton Reid, Ezra Staengl, Ben Sapperstein, Nisha Polk, Pika MacDougal. Not pictured but still part of the gang: Desiree Shelley, Quin Campbell

Leighton Reid

As a restoration ecologist, I aim to improve restoration outcomes for biodiversity conservation, climate stabilization, and human livelihoods by providing better answers to the question How and where can we best restore damaged ecosystems? My students and I approach this question through ecological and socio-ecological research in tropical forests in Ecuador and in temperate forests, woodlands, and grasslands in the southeastern US. I lead Virginia Tech’s Ecological Restoration major, advise the Society for Ecological Restoration student association at Virginia Tech, and coordinate Virginia Tech’s Biocultural and Ecological Restoration Initiative. I cofounded and edit a blog, Natural History of Ecological Restoration, and am a coordinating editor for Restoration Ecology. When not doing work stuff, I like hanging out with my kids, getting outside, and living in a cohousing community.

Phoebe Judge

Phoebe is a Research Associate with the lab and the Project Manager for the Southside Native Seed Project. She will be working with native seed stakeholders across southern Virginia to increase the availability of native Piedmont grassland seed for restoration. Outside of grassland conservation and restoration, her academic interests include plant ecophysiology and community ecology.

Gabrielle Ripa

Gabrielle is a PhD student studying which elements of stream restoration projects determine successful outcomes for native plant species assembly, invasive species control, and soundscapes of restoration and invasion. Her research interests include anthropogenic impacts on plant and animal communities, applied ecology, and wildlife habitat management. Co-advised by Jacob Barney.

Desiree Shelley

Desiree is a PhD student and George Washington Carver Scholar. Her current research interest focuses on Indigenous historical land use and food forest gardens in Appalachia and how these land use practices can be used in restoration planning efforts. In her master’s research, Desiree has explored community-based system thinking approaches for seeking Indigenous food sovereignty alongside cultural and language revitalization. Desiree has also spent many years as an urban forestry conservation analyst, environmental educator and community organizer. She enjoys many things outdoors (especially gardening and wild foraging) with her husband and three kids.

Nathan Duerr

PhD student with interests in tropical forest ecology and restoration.

Sophia Vrh

Sophia is a PhD student studying plant-animal interactions and restoration of high-elevation communities. Her broader research interests include using interdisciplinary methodologies, such as distribution modeling and population genetics, to investigate wildlife ecology in anthropogenic environments. She intends for her research to help elucidate ecosystem function and inform conservation management efforts.

Sebastián Aparicio Vera

Sebastián is a masters student. His area of interest includes the restoration and protection of biological corridors, the use of citizen science for restoration projects, faunal movement between ecosystems, and the study of plant–animal interactions. Currently he is studying the establishment success of giant stakes of different native species in Ecuador to develop new data for planning future ecological restauration projects.

Pika MacDougal

MS student studying the effects of prescribed fire on a federally threatened orchid, small whorled pogonia (Isotria medeoloides).

Mariel Fitzgerald

Mariel is an undergraduate studying Ecological Restoration. Her interests in the field are dendrology, avian seed dispersal and temperate woodland restoration.

Ezra Staengl

Ezra is an undergraduate studying Wildlife Conservation. Within the field of ecological restoration, he is most interested in grassland plant communities, and is currently working on a project to develop a new classification for grassland plant communities in the Piedmont of Virginia.

Quin Campbell

Quin is an undergraduate studying Environmental Data Science with minors in GIS and Wildland Fire Ecology. She is interested in wild and prescribed fire, as well as data management and analysis.

Nisha Polk

Nisha is an undergraduate in Ecological Restoration, with minors in Forestry and Wetland Science. With previous experience monitoring wetlands and streams, they will be working to conserve the Peter’s Mountain Mallow by studying past environments using stable carbon isotope analysis of soil organic matter. Outside of academics, their hobbies include foraging for edible plants and mushrooms, hiking, and gardening.

Nicola Andrzejewski

Nicola is the interim president of the Society for Ecological Restoration Student Association at Virginia Tech (SER-VT).

Graduate Alumni

Jordan Coscia (PhD 2025), Mid-Atlantic Regional Coordinator, Southeastern Grasslands Institute
Harry Stewart (MS 2025)
David Bellangue (MS 2023), Horticulturist at Piedmont Discovery Center
Michael Beall (MS 2022), PhD student at Virginia Tech (Hotchkiss Lab)
Crislaine de Almeida (Visiting student 2020)
Frederico Domene (Visiting student 2018, MOBOT)
Matt Hill (Visiting student 2017-2018, MOBOT), Executive Director, Green Again Madagascar
Estefania Pilar Fernandez Barrancos (Visiting student 2016, MOBOT), GAIA AI