“Argue for your limitations and, sure enough, they're yours.”
― Richard Bach
Lab Members
Associate Director (ECOS) | Professor of Quantitative Ecology | PI
Michael McCoy, PhD
Hometown: Hampton, VA
​I develop and implement experimental and statistical approaches to link empirical data to ecological and evolutionary theory. I typically take a mechanistic approach to understand how individual traits (e.g. size, stage and phenotype) scale up to influence population and community level processes and spatial coupling across ecosystems. I have broad interests and my research is very question driven and integrative. As a result I have worked on wide variety of topics, organisms and in a wide array of ecological systems. In my spare time I enjoy running ultramarathons, hiking, camping, traveling, and spending time with my family.​​
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PhD Student
Jessica Wimmer
Hometown: North Port, FL
Jessica graduated from the University of South Florida with concurrent BS degrees in Environmental Biology and Environmental Policy, and a minor in Geographic Information Systems and Technology. She is interested in the ecology and evolution of non-indigenous species, especially reptiles.
PhD Student
Natalia Jaworski
Hometown: Chicago, IL
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Natalia earned her BS in Biological Sciences from Illinois State University and her MS in Environmental Science from FAU HBOI in the McCoy Quantitative Ecology Lab. After taking a gap year to work, Natalia returned back to pursue her PhD. She is interested in understanding how asymmetrical temperature increases will impact predator-prey interactions and food web dynamics. In her free time, Natalia enjoys spending time with her puppy Dior, traveling with her partner, listening to music, and napping.​​
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MS Student
Jumar Francis
Hometown: Kingston, Jamaica
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Jumar received his BS in Biochemistry at Truman State University. Currently, he is interested in how marine organisms respond to ecological pressures through ontogenic plasticity and trait specialization, with implications for climate resilience and ecosystem dynamics. For his future research, Jumar wants to develop research questions that investigate how marine invertebrates allocate energy between growth and anti-predator defenses under changing environmental conditions.​​
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MS Student
Isabela Beneli Salinas Fernandes
Hometown: São Paulo, Brazil
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Isabela attended Florida Atlantic University for her undergraduate career where she received her BS in Biology. She is continuing on at at FAU to pursue her MS degree where she is co-advised by Drs. Randy Brooks and Michael McCoy. Her research interests lie in understanding how climate variability and microplastic pollution is affecting marine ecosystems. In her spare time she enjoys training for bodybuilding competitions, traveling and trying new recipes.
MS Student
Jada Brown
Hometown: White Bear Lake, MN
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Jada received her BS in Marine Science-Biology from the University of Tampa. Currently, she is working towards a MS in Biological Sciences on a project that is applying advanced machine learning and computational tools to long term data to gain important insights about ecosystem functions. She is interested in ecology, specifically the responses of marine invertebrates and plants to a changing climate. Outside of research Jada enjoys riding rollercoasters at Universal, bird watching and traveling.
