Ashley LaRoque

aalaroque@uncg.edu Department of Biology

612-741-0477 University of North Carolina at Greensboro
ashleylaroque.weebly.com 343 Eberhart Building, 321 McIver St.
ORCID: 0000-0002-9989-6323 Greensboro, NC 27402

Education

University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro NC

PhD Environmental Health Sciences Expected May 2026
Advised by Dr. Akira Terui
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minneapolis MN
BS Ecology, Evolution and Behavior May 2021
U Promise Scholarship
Iron Range Scholarship

Research Experiences

PhD Student, UNCG 2021-Present

PI: Dr. Akira Terui
Project: Capture-Mark-Recapture
● Used and assisted with backpack electrofishing
● Freshwater stream fish identification of Cyprinid and Centrarchid species
● PIT tagged >3000 small stream fish
● Took length and weight measurements of every captured fish
● Lead 4 person team through stream sampling
● Experience using Biomark tag receivers and portable antenna
● Established a new project’s protocol
Undergraduate Research, UMN Spring 2021
PI: Dr. Gretchen JA Hansen
Project: Quantifying change associated with spawning phenology of freshwater fishes
● Synthesize literature
● Use RStudio to analyze model outputs
Research Technician, UMN 2019-2021
PI: Dr. Gretchen JA Hansen
Project: Food web effects from zebra mussel invasion
● Analyze and process fish and invertebrates by taking tissue samples, drying, grinding, and
encapsulating
● Identify freshwater plankton species, separate, and prepare for encapsulation
● Communicate and work with other undergraduates, graduate students, and working professionals
to ask questions, develop ideas, and to communicate effectively, while also being able to work
independently
● Field work experience gillnetting, Ponar sampling, boat electrofishing, seining, kicknet
invertebrate collection, and plankton net sampling
● Drove lab boat and maintained boat safety
Teaching Experiences

Instructional Assistant, Principles of Biology II, UNCG Fall 2022-Spring 2023

● Taught 4 sections (24 students each) of introductory biology lab
● Lead and assist students in curating hypotheses to test
● Grade quizzes and reports
Instructional Assistant, Principles of Ecology, UNCG Spring 2022
● ~130 students
● Assist with Mastering Biology online assignments
● Answer student questions
● Organize student groups
● Grade exams
Instructional Assistant, Major Concepts in Biology Lab, UNCG Spring 2022
● Taught 1 section (14 students) of introductory biology lab for non-majors
● Lead and assist students in laboratory skill development
● Grade quizzes and reports
Instructional Assistant, Principles of Biology I, UNCG Fall 2021
● Taught 2 sections (24 students each) of introductory biology lab
● Lead and assist students in laboratory skill development
● Grade quizzes and reports

Mentoring

Nick Wolff Spring 2022 - Spring 2023

Christian Greene Spring 2022 - Spring 2024
Nawal Hussein Fall 2022 - Spring 2023
Emily Lewis Winter 2023 - Spring 2024
Itzel Dominguez Fall 2023 - Spring 2024
Monzar Thet-oo Spring 2024 - Current
Kelly Sharpe Spring 2024 - Current
Alan Sobalvarro-Villalta Spring 2024 - Current

Employment

Guest Experience Host, SeaLife Aquarium, Bloomington MN 2019-2020

● Self-motivated to learn information quickly
● Maintain guest satisfactions while being an informative speaker
● Communicate with co-workers and visitors to answer all questions and ensure guests are receiving
the best experience possible

Presentations

LaRoque A., Kim S., Terui A. Ecological Drivers of Fish Movement and their Implications for
Community Dynamics in Streams. American Fisheries Society Southern Division. February 2024
LaRoque A., G.J.A. Hansen. Predicting changes in thermal cues associated with spawning phenology of
freshwater fishes. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. November 2021
Gretchen J.A. Hansen, Jordan S. Read, Alison P. Appling, Jonah Bacon, Hayley Corson-Dosch,Vipin
Kumar, Ashley LaRoque, Samantha Oliver, Lindsay Platt, Kelsey Vitense, Jared Willard. Predicting
lake temperatures to understand ecological change using process-guided deep learning models.
Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting. May 2021
LaRoque A., Cooper D., Horejsi A., Johnson M. Effects of Time Spent at Home on Dog Behavior.
Animal Behavior Conference May 2021

Posters

LaRoque A., Terui A. Ecological drivers of fish movement and their implications for community
dynamics in streams. Society for Freshwater Sciences Southeast Chapter Meeting. November 2023
LaRoque A., Kim S., Terui A. Body size and fish density influence dispersal of stream fishes. Joint
Aquatic Sciences Meeting. May 2022
LaRoque A., Cooper D., Syed N., Seiwert S., Sensarma S. Effects of Prozac: adult zebrafish microbiota
and anxiety-related behaviors. Foundations of Biology poster session. December 2018
Alexander K., LaRoque A., Bauer A., Starr N., Boster C., Panek A., Sutter A., Seeman E., Hughes B.
Cancer is barking up the wrong tree. Foundations of Biology poster session. May 2017

Funding

Fall 2021 UNCG Travel Request Award $250

Fall 2022 UNCG Graduate Student Research Support Grant $380
Spring 2023 UNCG Graduate Student Research Support Grant $370
Spring 2023 UNCG John O’Brien Award $200
Fall 2023 UNCG Graduate Travel Request Award $136
Fall 2023 UNCG Munroe Award $976
Fall 2023 UNCG GSA Professional Development Fund $500

Service

CBS Dean’s Scholars Program Fall 2017-May 2021

Alpha Gamma Delta Director of Activities Spring 2019-Fall 2019
Marine Biology Club Media Coordinator Spring 2019-Spring 2021
Minnesota Zoo Interpretive Volunteer Fall 2019-Spring 2020
Panhellenic Council’s Director of Greek Activities Spring 2020-Fall 2020
Greensboro Science Pub Social Media Coordinator Fall 2021-Spring 2023

Skills and Certifications

Passive Integrated Transponder Tagging

Advanced R Studio Programming
Freshwater Fish Identification
Aquatic invertebrate, plankton, and fish collection
First Aid/CPR/AED certified 6/25/2020
Electrofishing certified 6/25/2020
PADI open water certified 9/15/2019