Julianna Colafranceschi

My name is Julianna Colafranceschi! I am a first-year Ph.D. student in the Choy lab studying PFAS pollution throughout the food web of European starlings in southern Ontario. Specifically, I analyse starling eggs, blood, chicks, and invertebrates that make up starling diet to better understand how this contaminant affects different aspects of the ecosystem. I completed my HBSc in Biology and Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour at McMaster University and decided to continue my graduate studies here. After the first year of my Master’s program, I switched into a PhD to expand upon my work studying PFAS pollution in the environment. I really enjoy working in the field and getting plenty of hands-on experience handling baby birds! Outside of school, I’m a huge fan of live music and love playing soccer

Email: colafraj@mcmaster.ca

Tory Alexandra Hartley-Cox

Tory Hartley-Cox is a PhD student in Wildlife Ecology whose research interests focus on how species’ behavioural ecology and their responses to human-modified landscapes. She previously completed her Master’s in Biology (2024) from the University of Regina on the nesting, home range behaviour, and perch selection of Great Horned Owls in the Canadian Prairies.

Tory’s doctoral research examines how forestry practices and Management Practices influence nesting habitat quality and reproductive success of the endangered Williamson’s Sapsucker in British Columbia. This species relies on large, old nest trees that are rare and slow to regenerate, making it highly vulnerable to selective logging. Tory will combine 20 years of nest monitoring data, new field surveys, and LiDAR-derived forest metrics to evaluate whether management practices maintain high-quality habitat or inadvertently create ecological traps.

Email: hartlv2@mcmaster.ca

Jolie Nguyen

Jolie joined the lab as a MSc student in May 2024, after completing a BSc at the University of Toronto. Her MSc project examines the role of nest microclimate, heat stress, and mosquito parasitism on breeding thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia). She spends her summers at the thick-billed murre colony on Coats Island, Nunavut in the northern Hudson Bay.

nguyej85@mcmaster.ca

Flynn O’Dacre

Flynn O’Dacre is an MSc student in the Department of Biology at McMaster University under the supervision of Dr. Emily Choy. Her research focuses on the field energetics of black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), with work based on Middleton Island, Alaska. Flynn uses heart-rate monitoring and GPS-accelerometry biologging to investigate the behavioural costs, energetic constraints, and foraging strategies of kittiwakes under varying climatic and environmental conditions.

Outside of her research, Flynn enjoys reading books by women authors and running.

Email: odacre.t.f@gmail.com

Sasha Cognigni

Sasha is a master’s student focusing on antimicrobial resistance genes and alterations in the gut microbiome of tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) across PFAS-polluted and non-polluted sites in Southern Ontario.

Email: cognigns@mcmaster.ca

Abby Eaton

Abby is a first-year MSc student studying the metabolic rates of rhinoceros auklets on Middleton Island, Alaska. Her research involves using pre-installed nest boxes to conduct respirometry measurements while the birds are incubating. Abby previously completed her undergraduate honours thesis in the Choy lab, working with black-legged kittiwakes on Middleton Island, and is excited to continue her work in the lab as a graduate student. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading, and play all kinds of sports (especially soccer!).

Email: eatona3@mcmaster.ca

Danielle Macneil

Danielle MacNeil is an MSc student in the Department of Biology at McMaster University under the supervision of Dr. Emily Choy and Dr. Kim Fernie (ECCC). Her research focuses on avian ecotoxicology, with particular emphasis on tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolour) as a model. Danielle’s work investigates both physiological biomarkers and environmental contaminant pathways to better understand how anthropogenic stressors, particularly per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), impact wildlife health and ecology. 

Email: macned3@mcmaster.ca

Shriya Banerjee

Shriya is a fourth-year undergraduate student in the Honours Biology – Physiology Research Specialization program at McMaster University. For her undergraduate thesis, she is studying the physiology and environment of tree swallows and starlings under the supervision of Dr. Choy. Shriya is excited to explore how these species interact with their surroundings and what that can tell us about their biology.

Email: baners6@mcmaster.ca

Adelaid Ellerbeck

My name is Adelaide Ellerbeck and I am currently a 4th year undergraduate thesis student for Dr. Choy’s lab! I am taking Arts and Science at McMaster, and minoring in biology, which is how I found my love for ornithology. I worked as a lab technician for the Choy lab over the 2025 summer, working with both tree swallows and European starlings. I am now working on my undergraduate thesis where I am aiming to connect our lab and research the Six Nations of the Grand River. 

Email: ellerbea@mcmaster.ca

Nikki Mohammadi

Nikki completed her undergraduate thesis in the lab, focusing on classifying behaviours of the Black-legged Kittiwake at the nest and during flight. Her project aims to use these behaviour classifications to create a kittiwake behavioural classification system. 

Email: mohamn64@mcmaster.ca

Ishaan Bhathal

Bio: Honours BSc Biology (Physiology Research Specialization) graduate from McMaster University with interests in ecotoxicology, microbiome research, and medicine Project: Characterizing gut microbiome variation in nestling tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) across wastewater-impacted and rural sites in southern Ontario to explore potential links between environmental pollution and host microbial communities.  Email: bhathali@mcmaster.ca

Kaiyue Zheng

My name is Kaiyue. I completed my undergraduate thesis in Dr. Choy’s lab from 2023 to 2024, where I examined how temperature affects wood warbler populations. My project used long-term migration and banding data from the Long Point Bird Observatory to analyze associations between local climate conditions and warbler passage patterns.

Email: zhengk18@mcmaster.ca