Post-Doctoral Scholar

Alex Kingston
Alex got her BS from Arizona State University. She received her PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she studied extraocular photoreception with Tom Cronin. Alex joined the Speiser lab in the Fall of 2015 where she began studying the molecular, structural, and functional complexities of dispersed visual systems in chitons and scallops. Alex also studies the co-evolution of weaponry, armor, and vision in snapping shrimp. Alex enjoys (studying, not eating) crustaceans and molluscs, coffee, making messes, and logic. As of Fall 2020, Alex is an Assistant Professor of Biological Science at the University of Tulsa.

PhD Student

Dan Chappell
Dan got his B.S. from Ohio University. He completed his PhD at UofSC in 2022 and is now an NRC post-doc at the Air Force Research Lab. Dan works on a wide range of questions in different systems. His PhD project concerned the neurobiology of animals with distributed visual systems such as chitons and scallops. Dan enjoys rock climbing, injecting chitons with fluorescent dyes, and being another Dan in the lab.

Research Specialist

Luke Havens
Luke got their BS in biology from USC in 2016. As an undergraduate in the Speiser Lab (2014-16), they studied the neural processing associated with the distributed visual system of scallops. Later, as a Research Specialist (2016-18), they built custom computers, specialized optical devices, and automated electrophysiological systems. Along with adding to their research toolkit, learning to speak machine has helped Luke hone their questions about processing in our non-silico subjects. Luke appreciates food, dance, and when spec sheets are more than aspirational. Luke started as a PhD student in Ken Lohmann's lab at UNC Chapel Hill in Fall 2018.

MSc Students



Jamie Clark
Jamie graduated twice from USC, the first time with a BS in Marine Science (with an emphasis in biology) in 2017 and the second time with a MS in Marine Science in 2018. As a researcher in the Speiser Lab, Jamie studied the function and regeneration of the eyes of the Florida fighting conch. Jamie enjoys SCUBA diving, traveling, and dissection. She is now working for NOAA in Beaufort, NC.
Natalie Sanchez
Natalie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania ('16). with a major in Biology, a minor in psychology, and interests in  conservation biology and ecology. As a MSc student at USC, she is studying the effects that environmental stressors experienced during larval development, particularly in the form of temperature variation along elevational gradients, have on the visual ecology of butterflies. She is particularly focusing on differences in the visual processing ability, eye size, and wing morphology of the insects in response to their developmental environment. She is also interested in how changes to these factors may affect interactions between interspecifics, particularly as it relates to mate recognition.

Undergraduate Researchers

Olivia Harris
Olivia graduated from the USC Honors College in 2018 with a major in Biology and a minor in Psychology. Her first undergraduate research project in the Speiser Lab involved studying structural color and anti-glare mechanisms in scallop eyes. Her second project involved designing and building an optomotor rig for experiments on visual acuity in crustaceans. Olivia enjoys large microscopes in dark rooms, looking at things in tanks, and ordering tea at coffee shops. She is now a PhD student in Nate Morehouse's lab at the University of Cincinnati
Taylor Hollingsworth
Taylor graduated from USC in 2018 with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry. As an undergraduate researcher, she compared the nervous systems of scallops (which have eyes and can swim) to the nervous systems of their close relatives (most of which lack eyes and do not swim). Taylor enjoys hiking, evolutionary biology, and The Office. As preparation for medical school, She is currently training to be an EMT and shadowing medical researchers in Philadelphia.
Tyler Horan
Tyler graduated from the UofSC Honors College after studying biology and neuroscience and making significant contributions to multiple projects in the Speiser Lab.  These projects included ones asking questions about the distributed visual system of scallops through behavioral experiments and others focused on associative learning  in brittle stars. Tyler plans to attend graduate school and continue research within the field of neuroscience.
Loann Koch
Loann is a 3rd year Marine Science undergraduate at UofSC with a particular interest in physical oceanography. His efforts in the lab involve computational modeling and data visualization. Loann loves to partake in the hardcore outdoor trips, and he meets on the soccer pitch weekly. He wants to dedicate his work to learning and using new technologies to study ocean and atmospheric processes.
Lauren Kunselman
Lauren graduated from UofSC with a major in Marine Science and a minor in Neuroscience.  As an undergraduate, she studied the visual neurobiology of the Florida fighting conch, Strombus alatus.  She characterized the cerebral ganglia of S. alatus with ethyl gallate staining and used immunolabelling to identify G-protein expression in the retina.  She also performed optomotor experiments on S. alatus to assess their visual capabilities.  Currently, Lauren is a PhD student at the University of Florida, where she works in Elaine Seaver's lab at the Whitney Laboratory studying the evolution and mechanisms of regeneration in the marine polychaete Capitella teleta.
Rebecca Lucia
Rebecca is a junior at USC studying biology and marine science. Her current work in the lab deals with visual systems in snapping shrimp. She is currently using behavioral experiments to study their visual acuity will later investigate their spectral sensitivity. She is planning to attend graduate school and continue research in the marine science field.
Hayley Miller
Hayley graduated from the USC Honors College in 2017 with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and a minor in Chemistry. Her work in the Speiser Lab provided the first experimental evidence that the unique mirror-based eyes of scallops have a pupillary response. She also worked to characterize the muscles in the eyes of scallops that might control pupil constriction and dilation. She is currently attending the University of South Carolina School of Medicine at Greenville where she will graduate in the Class of 2021.
Courtney Rulison
Courtney is a senior at USC majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. Her research project concerns the behavioral and visual ecology of scallops. In particular, she is studying how scallops respond to novel objects by detecting them visually, and then extending their sensory tentacles to touch and taste them. During Summer '18, Courtney spent two weeks with the Dogs of Chernobyl project, assisting with biological research in the exclusion zone. She hopes to become a veterinarian.
Alex Siegfried
Alex is a junior in the USC honors college.  He’s majoring in chemical engineering with a minor in Biology.  His current research project focuses on extracting and identifying different pigments expressed in the shell plates of chitons.  His next project will concern how chitons are able to biomineralize their radulas with magnetite.  He’s done research in the Speiser lab during the 2017 and 2018 summers and hopes to continue that trend.  He plans on going to medical school.
Caitlin Wolfe
Caitlin Wolfe was the first undergraduate researcher in the Speiser Lab. She graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2015.. Her independent research project focused on photonic structures in invertebrates, primarily those responsible for the  bright blue eyes of  the bay scallop  Argopecten irradians. Caitlin currently works at a pharmacy in Columbia and she is applying to graduate programs to become a Physician Assistant. Caitlin also works as a stand-in/body double in the film industry. She most recently worked on Robert Kirkman's new series, Outcast, that was filmed in South Carolina. In her free time, Caitlin enjoys hiking, traveling, and photography.