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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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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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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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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Undergraduates
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Makayla's research is primarily driven by a keen interest in the ecology of white-tailed deer and its implications for population health. She was an active participant in the Glassen Undergraduate Program and completed a Bachelor's degree in Fisheries and Wildlife with a concentration in Wildlife Biology and Management. Makayla was deeply involved in a pilot study radio collaring white-tailed deer fawns at the Corey Marsh Ecological Research Center. She led the monitoring of collared fawns for multiple seasons, employing radio telemetry to track their movements and spatial utilization.
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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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Ann is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Zoology with a concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology. She hopes to pursue a DVM in wildlife medicine in the future. She was previously a professorial assistant in the Zarnetske SpaCE Lab where she performed data entry in development with the Avian Interspecific Interaction Database. In the Christensen Lab, she plans to assist in various research projects and learn more about the science policy interface of zoonotic disease.
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Arlo is studying to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Wildlife Ecology and Management with a minor in Climate Change Studies and then plans to pursue a graduate degree. They have a background in community involvement with a focus on public health and wellness, serving as a representative on both the Student Wellness Activators Network and Student Voices for Prevention Initiatives at MSU. Within the Christensen Lab, they contribute to multiple ongoing research projects at the intersection of community health and wildlife conservation and management. Through this hands-on experience, they are exploring career paths in research, education, and conservation.
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Regan is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Science in Fisheries and Wildlife with a concentration in Fisheries and Wildlife Disease Ecology. This past summer, Regan had the opportunity to study with the Kozakiewicz and Walker Lab at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station in a surveillance of Eastern Equine Encephalitis. This experience prompted her to explore research into pathogen genetics and vector-borne diseases. In the Christensen lab, Regan plans to study Culicoides and their spread of epizootic hemorrhagic disease among Michigan white tail deer populations.
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Past Lab Members
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Jillian has a background in visual detection survey methods and management of massasauga rattlesnakes through her Master's research and collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As a member of the Christensen Lab, she assisted with establishing a standardized white-tailed deer abundance estimator for Chronic Wasting Disease treatment areas.
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Rachel Correia
she | her Previous Master's Student (graduated 2025) Currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Georgia Rachel's research interests include disease ecology, population ecology, and human dimensions of wildlife management. Her Master's focused on the willingness of private landowners to adopt and accept CWD management practices on their lands. Specifically, she evaluated the willingness for targeted culling at various intensities, and willingness to allow access by hunters with varying sex-age harvest criteria.
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Steven Gurney
he | him Former Master's Student & Lab Manager (graduated 2023) Currently employed as a Wildlife Biologist at the Detroit Airport Steven's Master's research included assessing camera-trap methods, evaluating impacts of a harvest regulation change on white-tailed deer populations, and simulating and evaluating chronic wasting disease spread and growth under alternative harvest scenarios. He provided team support as a lab manager and researcher, with research efforts focusing on a landowner chronic wasting disease management study.
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Ella North
she | her Former Undergraduate Volunteer Researcher (graduated 2025) Currently employed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Ella volunteered in the Christensen Lab. Before that, she worked on a project assessing administration methods for an oral vaccine against Lyme disease in white-tailed deer.
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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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