Resident Director
Dr. Steve Hovick 
earned his PhD in Plant Biology at the University of Georgia in 2009, after which he taught and conducted research in a postdoctoral position at Rice University. He is broadly trained with a research program focused on ecological and evolutionary factors that enhance invasiveness in plants. Biological invasions are costly and ecologically damaging, so gaining a better understanding of why certain species are successful invaders is valuable. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology at Ohio State University.
316 Aronoff Laboratory | (614) 247-7662 | hovick.2 AT osu dot edu
Teaching Assistant
Alexandria DeMilto received her undergraduate degree from Arizona State University in Anim
al Physiology and Behavior. Post-graduation she spent several months working in Panama at a primate rehabilitation facility where she performed behavioral and cognitive studies with Mantled Howler Monkeys. Alex completed her Master’s at the University of Texas at Tyler in Biology in 2015. Her thesis project explored the ability of the fungus-gardening ant, Trachymyrmex septentrionalis, to digest the plant compounds cellulose and lignin. She returned to Panama to manage the primate facility as well as complete behavioral studies in the summer of 2015. Alex is currently a research assistant at the Museum of Biological Diversity at The Ohio State University studying attine ants.
demilto.1 AT osu.edu
OIA Program Coordinator
Tiffany Pierskalla
(614) 292-6101 | pierskalla.5 AT osu.edu
