Past MLMP Team Members

Michelle Prysby

Michelle directed the MLMP in its early years. She developed the project and analyzed some of the early data as part of her Master's Thesis, "Temporal and geographic variation in monarch egg and larval densities (Danaus plexippus): An ecological application of citizen science". Citizen science is her passion!. She is currently the Virginia Master Naturalist Program Coordinator and lives in Charlottesville, Virginia. When she is not working (when is that?), she enjoys hiking and backpacking, reading, cooking with organic foods, and website development.

Michelle Solensky

Michelle was a graduate student in Karen Oberhauser's lab. Her PhD research focused on the reproductive behavior of monarch butterflies, and she worked with high school and undergraduate students on investigations of monarch genetics, larval growth and development, mating behavior, and sperm production and competition. She is currently teaching at Wooster College.

Michelle has enjoyed participating in the MLMP since 1997. She has helped monitor two sites, one in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota. She has trained and mentored high school teachers and students as they monitored milkweed patches for the first time and developed interesting research projects stemming from their monitoring experiences. As part of the substantial expansion of this project in 2002, Michelle has helped teach 'train-the-trainer' sessions, where she has had the privilege of working with enthusiastic naturalists. One of her favorite roles has been to help develop materials for the monitoring kits. She enjoyed taking a break from science to play with the art on the clipboards, work aprons, and pencils!

Cindy Petersen

Monitoring monarch eggs and larvae with middle school students has been Cindy's life during the past several summers. She began monitoring in 1999 with two of her students, after participating in a monarch monitoring and research teacher enhancement program funded by the National Science Foundation. During each subsequent summer she has worked with groups of 10-12 6th and 7th grade students monitoring at Spring Peeper Meadow in Chanhassen, MN.

Cindy spent the 2002-03 school year on sabbatical in the Monarch Lab, working with the MLMP and MITC program, and has returned to St. Hubert School in Chanhassen, MN, to teach 7th and 8th grade science.

Jolene Lushine

Jolene Lushine graduated from the U of MN with a Bachelor of Science in Biology in the Spring of 2002. She stepped into the monarch world in the summer of 2000 when she was hired as a field assistant and spent a majority of her summer monitoring monarchs in cornfields. She continued to contribute to monarch research by working on a summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project to determine if energy availability had an impact on male monarch mating success. She now works full time in the monarch lab assisting with the MLMP train-the-trainer sessions and volunteer correspondence. Jolene also coordinated the Monarchs in the Classroom program.

Bruce Leventhal

I earned my BS degree in biology, ecology, and evolution from the University California Irvine in 1990. Between 1985 and 1991 I worked as a field researcher for numerous studies that occurred throughout the Pribilof Islands, Mojave Desert, and the Southern California coast. I earned a Post-baccalaureate degree in Science Education from the University of Minnesota in 1992, and have been a science teacher at Forest Lake High School from that time to the present. As a high school science educator, I have co-developed inquiry-based curriculum that forms the foundation for all life science courses in my school.

I am currently pursuing my Masters Degree in biology from the University of Minnesota , and in 2002 I began studying monarch butterflies in Dr. Oberhauser's lab as a part of my capstone project. In the monarch lab, I participate in monitoring projects, research butterfly biology, and work with k-12 students and teachers.

Ted Sands

Ted developed the database and website for the MLMP during 2001-2002. During this time, he provided technical support for MLMP vounteers and monitored a site to get in-the-field experience for what he was creating. Now, whether mountain biking, hiking, canoeing, or just taking a walk, Ted cannot pass a milkweed plant without stopping and checking for eggs, larvae, other insects, and damage!

Brij Bhasin

Brij started first started working on the MLMP Project in Fall 2002. He graduated with a BS in Computer Science from the Univ of MN in Dec 2003 and started working full-time for the MLMP and MITC projects. He handles all the IT needs for the Monarch Lab group. Originally from India, he came to the University of Minnesota as an International Student. His other interests include roller blading, cricket, and watching movies.