People
Principle Investigator
Ryan St Laurent, PhD
Graduate Students
Sophia Anderson
Hello! I’m a masters student in the Museum and Field Studies program with a focus on collection management and field studies. I received my bachelors in biology and environmental studies from Macalester College. During this time, I worked in Dr .Sarah Boyer’s lab specializing in biodiversity and biogeography through the study of mite harvestmen. After graduation, I worked for three years at the University of Minnesota Insect Collection as a curatorial assistant. I helped care for over four million specimens while learning the logistics and ethics of museum work through hands-on experience. I also participated in outreach and tours to help educate the public and teach children about career paths in science. In this masters program, I plan to meld my background of biogeography and museum studies. I’m excited to continue my academic career and work with specimens in the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History!
Email: Sophia.Anderson-3*at*colorado.edu
Christian Couch, MS
I'm a second year PhD student studying moth diversity and pollination in the Rocky Mountains and Colorado's surrounding ecoregions. I'm interested in moth-flower interaction networks and how they change in different habitats and throughout the year. In 2026, I collected moths from April to September in hopes of pinpointing these flower interactions, documenting Colorado's moth diversity, describing new species, and identifying keystone moth pollinators. As a Museology certificate student in the Museum and Field Studies program at the University of Colorado's Museum of Natural History, I plan on using pinned moth specimens, and their preserved pollen, to compare moth pollination networks in the past to present day. This work could give us insight into how the effects of climate change are impacting moth pollinators in Colorado. Additionally, I have over six years of laboratory experience working at the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at CU, Boulder. I received my Master's degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of Florida during my time at the Florida Museum, where I studied hawkmoth (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) feeding behavior, proboscis evolution, and gustatory receptor expression. I continue to work on hawkmoths and their systematics, defining new tribes and placing incertae sedis taxa. I have also worked as a Molecular Technician for an environmental sequencing company, where I processed and sequenced eDNA using Oxford Nanopore technologies.
Email: christian.couch*at*colorado.edu
Google Scholar
Undergraduate Students
Murphy Kurtin (Honors thesis)
Andy Better (Honors thesis)
Andrés (Andy) Better is currently pursuing a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a minor in Geography. In the lab, he is working on an honors thesis co-advised by Dr. Ryan St Laurent and Dr. Sammy Ramsey, which focuses on compiling biological inventories of arthropods for caves in the White River National Forest in western Colorado. Supported by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and the USFS, the purpose of this project is to better understand cave biodiversity in order to manage and conserve these unique ecosystems and the species that inhabit them.
Ella Vail (UROP)
Brady Wakatsuki (UROP)
Bella Fischer (Research assistant)