Current Lab Members
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I am currently an assistant professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. My role includes conducting and publishing research, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students, teaching undergraduates, and partnering with state and federal wildlife agencies to tackle challenging wildlife disease issues. I am interested in applied disease and population ecology research for free-ranging wildlife. It is important to me that my work has real, positive impacts on our wildlife and provides solutions for challenges created by emerging diseases. I believe wildlife health and disease ecology will only become more important for conserving and managing wildlife populations as climate and land use change in the future.
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Postdocs & Research Assistants
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Eric joined the Christensen Lab in 2025 to model social-ecological dynamics of chronic wasting disease spread and mitigation. His research has primarily focused on animal movement, habitat selection, connectivity, and landscape genetics in the context of global change. Recently, he simulated movements of mountain caribou and grizzly bears under different scenarios of human development and recreation to inform management and conservation decisions in British Columbia and Alberta. Eric received his BA in Biology from Colorado College, his MSc in Biological Sciences from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, and his PhD in Fish and Wildlife Biology from the University of Montana.
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Olivia is passionate about implementing cutting-edge methods in spatial ecology to research in wildlife management and conservation. While pursuing a B.S. in Zoology at Michigan State University (MSU), she studied animal behavior and neuroscience and worked in public outreach. She earned her M.S. in Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan before joining MSU's Mara Hyena Project as a Research Assistant to collect behavioral and biological samples from spotted hyenas in Kenya. She then joined the Mara Hyena Project as a doctoral student and studied the spatial and temporal patterns of vegetative cover, native and domestic ungulates, and native carnivores to produce information, resources, and analytical tools to guide ongoing conservation efforts in East Africa. She joined the Christensen Lab in 2024 and is now collaborating with MSU and the USDA to spatially model foot-and-mouth disease transmission risk between livestock and feral swine.
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Jillian earned her B.S. in Biology, Ecology and Evolution from DePaul University in 2019. Through her early career Jillian’s research experience focused on forest community reproduction patterns, and impacts of climate change on tree species range and forest composition. In 2023, Jillian earned her M.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University. Her graduate research aimed to enhance visual detection survey methods for the federally listed eastern massasauga rattlesnake, and better understand their space use and movements around maintained roadsides. This work led her to collaborate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to develop updated best management practices for massasaugas across their range. Recently, Jillian joined the Christensen lab to aid establishing a standardized white-tailed deer abundance estimator for Chronic Wasting Disease treatment areas.
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Graduate Students
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Mike’s research interests are in mammal ecology, and he’s studying EHD impacts on Indiana White-tailed deer populations as part of the Christensen Lab for Wildlife Population Health advised by Dr. Sonja Christensen. Mike is originally from coastal Maine and received his B.S in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine in 2019 with a concentration in wildlife science and management. Mike went on to work in Colorado as a wildlife technician for Colorado Parks and Wildlife collaring elk calves. Afterwards, he moved to Maryland where he worked for county government as a wildlife management specialist as part of their deer management program. Mike received his M.S from the University of Arkansas in 2023 as part of the wildlife cooperative research unit. His Master’s work was on creating a species distribution model of plain spotted skunk (Spilogale interrupta) and occupancy patterns of gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus).
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Kristen earned her B.A. in biology and environmental science from Westminster College. Her undergraduate research focused on researching and taxonomically identifying early mammal oreodont and entelodont fossil specimens. After graduation, she spent some time working as a wildlife health technician for the Missouri department of Conservation assisting in chronic wasting disease (CWD) sampling, epizootic hemorrhagic disease sampling (HD) and other wildlife health related issues. She then returned to school in 2020 to get her master’s degree in Natural resources with an emphasis in fisheries and wildlife at the University of Missouri. Her research focused on zoonotic bacterial diseases and how the severity of these diseases impacted individual host species. Afterwards she spent a year as a toxicology research assistant at the University of Missouri’s veterinary diagnostic lab before once again returning to school in 2024 to earn her doctorate. Her current research is still in the early stages but will focus on modeling EHD-V outbreaks in the great plains and eastern United States. Broadly, Kristen is interested in conservation biology, with special interests in wildlife disease management, One Health concepts, and disease epidemiology.
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Rachel received her B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife from Michigan State University in 2021. Her undergraduate research focused on how different white-tailed deer behaviors can influence the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among a population. After graduation, she spent time in southern Texas researching how canopy cover influences choice of birth site by white-tailed deer on the San Antonio Viejo ranch. Her current research is focused on the willingness of private landowners to adopt and accept CWD management practices on their lands. Specifically, she is evaluating the willingness for targeted culling at various intensities, and willingness to allow access by hunters with varying sex-age harvest criteria. Rachel's research interests include disease ecology, population ecology, and human dimensions of wildlife management.
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Undergraduates
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Makayla is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Fisheries and Wildlife, concentrating on Wildlife Biology and Management. She has been an active participant in the Glassen Undergraduate Program through the Christensen lab at Michigan State University's Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center. During her time at Corey Marsh, Makayla contributed to a pioneering pilot study involving the radio collaring of white-tailed deer fawns. She remains engaged in monitoring these collared fawns, employing radio telemetry to track their movements and spatial utilization. Her research is primarily driven by a keen interest in the ecology of white-tailed deer and its implications for population health.
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Sam is a native Michigander who grew up spending his vacations in the deep north of Michigan’s upper peninsula exploring the waters and woods. He is working towards a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife with a concentration in Wildlife Biology and Management. He has assisted with data collection and processing for two studies of white-tailed deer, one concerning antler point restrictions and a second observing deer behavior around food plots and bait sites. Currently, he is an undergraduate learning assistant with the Biological Sciences cell and molecular biology lab. Concurrent with his education, Sam continues to serve with the Michigan Army National Guard as a flight instructor on UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters.
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Cooper is currently working on his undergraduate degrees in Entomology and Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University (MSU). He had previously studied at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas before transferring to MSU in 2022. As a participant in the Honors College Professorial Assistant program, he assists the Christensen Lab with multiple research projects. Cooper's current research interests surround Culicoides (genus of biting midges) and their spread of bluetongue disease in Michigan white-tailed deer.
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Ella is currently working on finishing her degree in Fisheries and Wildlife with a concentration in Disease Ecology. In the past, she has worked on a project assessing administration methods for an oral vaccine against Lyme disease in white-tailed deer.
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Past Lab Members
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Steven completed his master's with the Christensen Lab in 2023. That research included (1) assessing camera-trap methods, (2) evaluating impacts of a harvest regulation change on white-tailed deer populations, and (3) simulating and evaluating chronic wasting disease spread and growth under alternative harvest scenarios. Currently, Steven provides team support as both a lab manager and researcher—with research efforts focusing on a landowner chronic wasting disease management study.
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Katie King
Former Glassen Undergraduate (graduated 2023) Currently employed as a Veterinary Assistant Katie participated in the Glassen Undergraduate Experience program with the Christensen Lab. Her research was focused on characterizing the frequency and intensity of epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreaks in Indiana's free-ranging white-tailed deer populations. Katie also assisted the team with various research projects, including a camera-trap project and a deer-behavior study.
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Avery Tilley
Former Undergraduate Professorial Assistant (graduated 2023) Currently pursuing a VDM at the University of Georgia As a participant in the Honors College Professorial Assistant program, his research with the Christensen Lab focused on a spatial assessment of West Nile virus using data from radio-collared white-tailed deer.
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Dr. Miranda L. Strasburg
Former Postdoctoral Researcher (2022-2023) Currently employed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service The goals of Miranda's projects were to understand how diseases in white-tailed deer are influenced by landscape-level factors and to investigate the potential for diseases to interact to influence deer populations.
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Dr. Florian H. Hodel
Former Postdoctoral Researcher (2021-2023) Currently employed as a Postdoc with the University of Minnesota The goal of Florian's project was to develop a simulation framework to assess management strategies to mitigate chronic wasting disease spread and growth. Florian continues to partner with the Christensen Lab today on various projects.
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Cameron Brown
Former Undergraduate Researcher (graduated 2023) Cameron's research focused on characterizing the frequency and intensity of epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreaks in Indiana's free-ranging white-tailed deer populations. Cameron also assisted the team with various research projects, including a camera-trap project.
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