CRRC Committees

Early Career Research Committee

Caitlyn Lyons

President

Caitlyn is a PhD Candidate in the Forest Ecology Research Group. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of wildfire and permafrost thaw on boreal trees in the Northwest Territories and more specifically on the access and use of permafrost thaw released nutrients. Caitlyn enjoys long runs with her dog, volunteering with Girl Guides, and spending time outside.

Mathew Mervyn

Co-Program Director

Mat is a second-year master’s student at Wilfrid Laurier University. His research is focused on the impacts of beaver impoundments on stream food webs and mercury bioaccumulation in fish in the Northwest Territories. As one of the program directors, he leads the organization of the Cold Regions Conference as well as social events for ECRs.

Brian Newton

Co-Program Director

Brian is a masters student in the Forest Ecology Research Group. His research focuses on assessing the changing resilience of the boreal forest to wildfire disturbance by measuring the frequency of post-fire forest composition changes. Brian likes to bake fresh bread, eat fresh bread, and play music.

Claudia Haas

Communication Director

Claudia is a PhD student in the Wildlife Integration for Land use Decisions (WILD) Lab at Wilfrid Laurier University. Claudia’s research focuses on looking into what maintaining ecosystem integrity, connectivity and resilience means in a northern context. Claudia is a remote student living in Yellowknife with her young family so her life revolves mostly around her kids hobbies instead of her own but is happy when she can carve out “me” time to cook, dance and breath fresh air.

Claire O'Brien

Knowledge Mobilization Director

Claire is a Master’s student in the Forest Ecology Research Group at Wilfrid Laurier University. Claire is interested in how plant communities and plant traits in the tundra are being impacted by climate change-related disturbances. Her work will also explore how certain plant communities are contributing to carbon fluxes with implications for a multi-scale eddy covariance project and the creation of a detailed vegetation map.

Field Training Committee