Dr. Marcy Litvak (PI) (she/her)
Marcy is a Professor in the Biology Department of University of New Mexico.  She received her B.A. with honors in 1989 from Colorado College, and her Ph.D. in Plant Physiological Ecology in 1998 from the University of Colorado, Boulder.  Her research focus is on understanding how ecosystem processes vary across ecological gradients in semi-arid biomes.  She is particularly interested in quantifying how climate and disturbance alter carbon, water and energy dynamics in the Southwestern U.S.    

For more information:  CV, Google Scholar, or Research Gate.
​Contact info:  faculty web page

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Jacob White is the program manager for our new NSF ERISE RII award, FOR-NM (Forest Research for NM Water and Carbon Management.  He received his B.S. from University of Wyoming in Wildlife Biology and Environment and Natural Resources.  He worked with the National Ecological Observatory Network for 8 years, managing teams to collect ecological data from flux towers, terrestrial plots, and aquatic sites.  Jake helps the lab with his experience working in a wide variety of ecosystems and disciplines. 

  Dr. Megan (Rae) DeVan,  is a research assistant professor working on the FOR-NM project who research focuses on the drivers of microbial and fungal diversity and their impact on ecosystem function. She is particularly interested in terrestrial symbioses and decomposition and how they influence and feedback with ecosystem nutrient cycles. Rae’s past research has covered how fungi, microbes, and roots respond to climate change and disturbance and influence ecosystem recovery, feedbacks between microbial processes and nutrient cycling, and how microbial composition influences the balance of soil carbon sequestration and respiration during decomposition.

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Kai Del Regno is our new data manager for the NMEG, and a Data Scientist working with the Litvak Lab and Dr. Dan Krofcheck (Sandia National Lab) on using machine learning to estimate carbon, water and energy fluxes at the watershed scale for NM TOP 500 priority watersheds for our FOR-NM project.  Kai received his B.S in Electrical Engineering from UCLA, and his M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UCLA.  He worked at Sandia National Lab as both an R&D Intern and Post-Master's Intern.  His expertise is in machine learning and data science, mathematics and engineering.  

Technicians

Victor Schiller

Victor is a technician for a new riparian flux tower site that will combine both terrestrial and aquatic measurements to quantify the carbon and water budget in a cottonwood gallery forest along the Rio Grande. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in chemistry from The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, researching the development of large-scale battery technologies to implement renewable energy sources. After graduating, he began working in the industry as a quality chemist. His experience in instrumental analysis, data analysis, and laboratory expertise helps further this lab's research.

Bishop Cervantes

Bishop is the lab’s lead technician, responsible for maintaining flux tower instrumentation and keeping systems running smoothly across all NMEG tower sites. He received his B.S. in Mathematics with a minor in Secondary Education with honors in 2024 and his M.S. in Mathematics with a Specialization in Industrial Mathematics in 2025, both from the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology. He brings experience in epidemiological modeling, ecological modeling, and soil monitoring, with a strong foundation in data-driven analysis and field-based environmental research. He supports the installation, troubleshooting, and upkeep of tower equipment to ensure consistent, high-quality data collection."

Christian von Huene

Christian is a technician for FOR-NM in charge of running instrument packages to intensively monitor tree and ecosystem function in watersheds impacted by management and/or disturbance.   He received his B.A. in Russian from UNM and has an Associates Degree in Geographic Information Technology from CNM, and is currently in the Water Resources Program studying hydroscience.   

Graduate/Undergraduate Students

Savannah Sanchez

I am currently a master's student looking at plant contributions to CO2 fluxes at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge. I received my B.S. in Biology at New Mexico Highlands University in 2022. I was born and raised in Las Vegas, New Mexico and my love for plants started through an internship through NMHU working for Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge collecting different native plants to add to our herbarium. I am an avid houseplant collector, hiker, and skier and New Mexico is the perfect place to be able to do all three!"
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Derek Kober

Derek is a graduate student studying how piñon and juniper trees respond to drought stress. His research uses thermal remote sensing to detect patterns of tree water use and drought stress from canopy temperatures. Before joining the Litvak Lab, he earned his B.S. in Biology with an emphasis in Plant Biology and a minor in Computer Science from the University of Utah, and worked as a field technician for NEON and at a garden center planting trees.

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Josh Lopez-Binder

Rachael Auer

Josh is a masters student investigating tree responses to climatic changes. He received a BS in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2014. Since then he worked as a mechanical engineer, programmer and tree-trimmer. Studying ecology combines elements of his past experiences and he is thrilled to be applying them to the study of trees.

Rachael used to be our technician in charge of making all ecological measurements across the NMEG. She started graduate school as a Master's student in Fall 2024. She received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, focusing on botany and plant ecology. She is fascinated by plant ecosystems and how they are changing in response to climate change. Her graduate research focuses on phenology and how it can be used to investigate range expansions and contractions at the Sevilleta LTER

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Caerwyn Nelson

Caerwyn is a master's student exploring how thinning influences tree growth, snowpack dynamics, and ecosystem fluxes. They received their BS with honors in Environmental Science at Willamette University, where they investigated post-fire vegetation regeneration using dendrochronological methods. Caerwyn has also contributed to ecological monitoring through the OSU Institute for Natural Resources and the BLM AIM program, as well as ecosystem modeling for the Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework as part of the EPA's VELMA team. In their spare time, Caerwyn can be found participating in conservation programs or playing roller derby. 

David Traub

David is an undergraduate working in our lab on an honors thesis investigating the effect of Pinyon mortality on soil respiration within piñon-juniper woodlands. He has worked previously in labs relating to fungal bioremediation, and is receiving a B.S. in biology at the University of New Mexico. He has an interest in microbial and fungal ecology.

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Eli Cone

Eli received a B.S in Mechanical Engineering from the Rochester Institute of Technology.  He started as a graduate student in Jan 2026 and will be quantifying how management induced changes in forest structure alter tree and ecosystem function through FOR-NM.

Past Lab Members

Huge shout out to all the people who have worked in the Litvak Lab in the past and who poured an enormous amount of time and energy into building up our flux tower gradient and datasets.   It would not have been possible without their enormous efforts.  They are listed here in no particular order.  

Graduate Students

University of New Mexico
Alesia Hallmark, PhD
Amanda (Leibrecht) Stanfield, PhD
Dan Krofcheck, PhD
Amanda Sacks, MS
Michelle Nuanez, MS
Daniel Brese, MS Plan II
​Amy Bennett, MS Plan II
Theodore Roper, MS
Ryan Schulz, MS
Corrie Gonzalez, MS
Sasha Escamilla, MS

University of Texas, Austin
M. Shawn Brumbaugh, PhD
​Ann Thijs, PhD
Tamara Basham, PhD

Postdocs

Cameron McIntire
Krista Anderson Teixera
Andy Fox
Tim Hilton
Greg Maurer
Dan Krofcheck
Rob Pangle
​Laura Morillas Gonzalez
Mike Fuller
Cheng-Wei Huang
Tomer Duman

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Lead Instrument Technicians

Anthony Luketich
Mikael Schlumpf
Steven Crisp
Alex Moody
Andy Hawk
Leo Stoscheck
Skyler Hackley
Jonathan Furst
Christopher Russell

Lead Ecology Technicians

Nicholas Smith
Margaret Schluter
Stephanie Schmiege
​Christy Lowney
Bobby Mullin
Melissa Baciagalupa
Andrea Urioste

Field Technicians, Field Crew and Undergraduate Students

Laura Pages Barcelo
Grady Ball
​Sarah Lujan
Pavel Vahkhlamov
​Emma Elliot-Smith
Anita Enriquez
Tallie Segel
Eva Detweiler-Robinson

Teresa Conway
Kelly Williamson
​Caitlin Wolf
Gaea McGahee
​Nate Ritz
​Cecilia Payan
​Shaila Cochran
​Amanda Solnitzky
Will Crockett

Sarah Hicks Dean
Kathryn Harris
Devon Fisher-Chavez
​Thommy Thompson
​Nina Vakhlamova
Sabrina McNew
​Ryan Evansen
Matthew McNair
Ryan Ozatalar
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