AUM Faculty & Staff
Directory
Ben Rogers
Lab Coordinator | College of Sciences
B.S., Zoology, Auburn University
M.S., Biology, University of Arkansas
Bio: Ben Rogers is a biology lab coordinator for beginning biology labs at AUM. His primary area of interest in biology is birds of prey. He studied the dynamics of a winter bald eagle roost in Arkansas for his master’s degree under the Dr. Douglas James at the University of Arkansas. He is a former zoo keeper, and has also worked for the Peregrine Fund’s aplomado falcon re-introduction project in southeast Texas. Some of his other research work involved Mitchell’s satyr butterfly surveys, salamander body sizes, and sexual dimorphism in red-tailed hawks.
He maintains a strong interest in biology education, along with a fascination for weird insects and fossil hunting.
Cynthia Schmaeman
Lab Coordinator
B.S., Zoology and horticulture, Michigan State University
M.S., Biological sciences, Auburn University
I studied bat reproductive physiology and behavior as my master’s research and still have a fondness for bats.
Claudia Stein
Associate Professor | College of Sciences
PhD, Biology, University of Potsdam & Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany, 2008
Diploma Biology (chemical ecology, botany), Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2003
Dr. Stein is Assistant Professor in Biology and Environmental Sciences specializing in plant ecology. She is broadly interested in understanding the patterns, causes and consequences of plant diversity. Her main research focusses on the mechanisms by which species interactions, such as plant-soil microbial feedbacks and plant-herbivore interactions, affect species diversity, biological invasions, and ecosystem functioning under climate change. The motivation of her work is to develop management solutions to successful restoration and conservation and to mitigate the effects of climate change. She works in a variety of systems, including grasslands, working rangelands, and woodlands.
Her recent publications include journal articles in Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Oecologia, Plant and Soil, Mycorrhiza, and Ecology and Evolution. She is a member of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ).
Yener Ulus
Assistant Professor | College of Sciences
Dr. Yener Ulus is an environmental health scientist studying how environmental change influences the movement, transformation, and accumulation of pollutants in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. He leads the TRACE Lab at Auburn University at Montgomery with a focus on mercury and other environmental contaminants.
His research investigates how sea-level rise, flooding, saltwater intrusion, forest management, and wildfires affect pollutant cycling and associated ecological and human health risks. His work integrates field studies, laboratory experiments, and environmental monitoring to better understand and predict contaminant behavior.
More recently, his interests have expanded to artificial intelligence and data-driven environmental science, particularly for improving pollution monitoring, analyzing environmental patterns, and predicting contaminant dynamics. He also collaborates with social scientists and public health researchers to explore public awareness, risk perception, and exposure-related behaviors, connecting environmental research with human health and risk communication.
Dr. Ulus has published in leading peer-reviewed journals and maintains national and international research collaborations. The TRACE Lab welcomes new research partnerships and prospective master’s students interested in environmental science.
Chelsea Ward
Professor/Head | College of Sciences
Ph.D. (2005) Auburn University in Biology
BS (1998) Florida Institute of Technology in Marine Biology
Dr. Ward’s research focuses are on immunology and stress physiology as it relates to temperature and changing environments. She also has interested in latitudinal gradients in stress physiology, immunology, and metabolism in Anurans.
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