Mark Lueders
Ph.D. Candidate - Dr. McManamay

Mark Lueders graduated summa cum laude from Minnesota State University Moorhead in 2019, with a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. During his undergraduate education, Mark completed various projects involving physiological and behavioral responses to cues, primarily involving zebrafish. Nearly as far away from an ocean as one can get in North America, Mark satiated his interest in the sea by working in the campus marine lab and cofounding the Marine Ecology Club. After spending summer 2017 in Alabama doing REU research with Dr. William Michael Howell at Samford University studying the effects of the chemical Lawsone on rapidly reproducing cells, Mark returned to the South to join the Baylor Environmental Science Department as a Ph.D. student in fall of 2020. He plans to continue following his interests in behavioral ecology, investigating how different strategies allow different species to take advantage of human-mediated habitat alterations. Upon completion of his degree, Mark hopes to enter into academia, teaching at a Christian university where he can provide educational opportunities for the next generation of scientists and work to bridge the gap and correct misconceptions between science and religion.