(Most of) our lab group in front of Ayres Hall in spring 2024.
Back Row (left to right): Ethan Colston, Jessie Tanner, Sasha Ewing
Front Row (left to right): Lauren Shinn, Elliott Brooks, Eva Kent, Trina Chou
Back Row (left to right): Ethan Colston, Jessie Tanner, Sasha Ewing
Front Row (left to right): Lauren Shinn, Elliott Brooks, Eva Kent, Trina Chou
Jessie C. Tanner
I am an animal behaviorist primarily interested in sexual signaling. I am especially interested in communication behaviors because they are complex, dynamic, conspicuous, and often critically important to individual fitness. The broad aim of my research is to understand the information present in signals, how that information is decoded and used by receivers, how the environment shapes communication interactions, and how communication evolves. I use empirical studies of behavior in the field and the lab to understand decision-making and its consequences. I work primarily with frogs and field crickets because they are excellent models for studies of acoustic communication. Before starting my lab at the University of Tennessee, I completed postdoctoral training at the University of Western Australia, where I studied the evolution of the mammalian baculum (penis bone). I earned my PhD at the University of Minnesota, studying some of the reasons receivers might not always be able to express their mating preferences in nature. I am also a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where I completed a BS in Zoology and a BA in French. For more information, see my CV.
I am an animal behaviorist primarily interested in sexual signaling. I am especially interested in communication behaviors because they are complex, dynamic, conspicuous, and often critically important to individual fitness. The broad aim of my research is to understand the information present in signals, how that information is decoded and used by receivers, how the environment shapes communication interactions, and how communication evolves. I use empirical studies of behavior in the field and the lab to understand decision-making and its consequences. I work primarily with frogs and field crickets because they are excellent models for studies of acoustic communication. Before starting my lab at the University of Tennessee, I completed postdoctoral training at the University of Western Australia, where I studied the evolution of the mammalian baculum (penis bone). I earned my PhD at the University of Minnesota, studying some of the reasons receivers might not always be able to express their mating preferences in nature. I am also a proud graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where I completed a BS in Zoology and a BA in French. For more information, see my CV.
Trina Chou
I am a third year PhD candidate in the EEB Department. I am interested in the evolutionary pressures that shape animal acoustic communication systems, and how these pressures affect the behaviors of both signalers and receivers! My work takes place in comparative contexts, drawing comparisons across and among species, and I am currently working on several projects generally studying variation in signaler and receiver behavior. The first seeks to understand the effects of chytrid infection on male calling behavior, the second explores whether female treefrogs experience choice overload in complex environments, and the third studies how within-individual variation in male calling may act as a signal of interest for females making decisions. Before starting my PhD, I earned my B.A. at Vassar College, where I majored in Neuroscience and Behavior and minored in Mathematics. You can read more about me on my website!
I am a third year PhD candidate in the EEB Department. I am interested in the evolutionary pressures that shape animal acoustic communication systems, and how these pressures affect the behaviors of both signalers and receivers! My work takes place in comparative contexts, drawing comparisons across and among species, and I am currently working on several projects generally studying variation in signaler and receiver behavior. The first seeks to understand the effects of chytrid infection on male calling behavior, the second explores whether female treefrogs experience choice overload in complex environments, and the third studies how within-individual variation in male calling may act as a signal of interest for females making decisions. Before starting my PhD, I earned my B.A. at Vassar College, where I majored in Neuroscience and Behavior and minored in Mathematics. You can read more about me on my website!
Olivia Harris, PhD
I am the Collaborative for Animal Behavior (CoLAB) Postdoctoral Fellow, working in both the Claire Hemingway and Tanner labs. I am a visual ecologist broadly interested in the way color and color signaling affects behavior and cognition in invertebrates. My work in CoLAB will combine Dr. Tanner’s expertise in extracting signals from noisy environments with Dr. Hemingway’s expertise in decision-making in bumblebees to investigate how bee foraging behavior changes in artificial lighting conditions. I will be evaluating how UV-deficient environments, like those created by greenhouse agriculture, will affect the ability of bees to locate floral signals and navigate within and between flowers. For my PhD, I characterized color vision and visually-guided behaviors in jumping spiders at the University of Cincinnati, and was featured in a documentary available on YouTube.
Ashlesh Pattanaik
I joined the lab in Fall 2024 as a PhD student in EEB. Originally from India, I graduated from the National Science Education and Research (NISER) with an integrated BS-MS degree. I am fascinated by unique behavioural traits, specifically in the context of acoustic communication. With a bias towards insects, I want to understand the factors that drive the evolution of signalling strategies over time. This has led me to address a complex tool-making behaviour in tree crickets, known as “baffling”, wherein some species call from self-made holes (or baffles) in leaves to amplify their songs. My goal is to document the variation in baffling among ~25 tree cricket species found in the US and trace the evolutionary path of this trait using a phylogenetic approach. To achieve this, I am also relying on citizen science to gather data on baffling. Consider contributing to my iNaturalist project and find out more about me here!
I joined the lab in Fall 2024 as a PhD student in EEB. Originally from India, I graduated from the National Science Education and Research (NISER) with an integrated BS-MS degree. I am fascinated by unique behavioural traits, specifically in the context of acoustic communication. With a bias towards insects, I want to understand the factors that drive the evolution of signalling strategies over time. This has led me to address a complex tool-making behaviour in tree crickets, known as “baffling”, wherein some species call from self-made holes (or baffles) in leaves to amplify their songs. My goal is to document the variation in baffling among ~25 tree cricket species found in the US and trace the evolutionary path of this trait using a phylogenetic approach. To achieve this, I am also relying on citizen science to gather data on baffling. Consider contributing to my iNaturalist project and find out more about me here!
Katrina Pfennig
I am a first year PhD student in the EEB Department. I am broadly interested in how animals use behavior to maximize their fitness in their environments. I am especially interested in how female gray tree frogs potentially mitigate the non-ideal choice environment created by noise, and how that in turn creates behavioral and genetic differences between populations. I received BAs in Biology and in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I also completed a senior honors thesis in which I examined whether sea turtles might use plant olfactory cues for navigation, and how this usage differed by age.
Sasha Ewing
I joined the lab in January of 2024 as lab manager. I am broadly interested in animal communication and, before joining the lab, I worked on projects studying a variety of birds and some mammals. I completed my MS in the Moseley Lab at James Madison University, where my research focused on how urban environments affect song and reproductive success in gray catbirds, Dumetella carolinensis. I also work in the Derryberry Lab at UTK, where we take a variety of approaches to understanding signal evolution in birds -- largely using tree swallows, zebra finches, and white-crowned sparrows.
I joined the lab in January of 2024 as lab manager. I am broadly interested in animal communication and, before joining the lab, I worked on projects studying a variety of birds and some mammals. I completed my MS in the Moseley Lab at James Madison University, where my research focused on how urban environments affect song and reproductive success in gray catbirds, Dumetella carolinensis. I also work in the Derryberry Lab at UTK, where we take a variety of approaches to understanding signal evolution in birds -- largely using tree swallows, zebra finches, and white-crowned sparrows.
Miles Draper
I'm a statistics major at UTK. I joined the lab in spring 2025 and received a Faculty Research Assistantship to complete a project on gray treefrogs. Dr. Tanner and I are working to understand how fecundity is related to traits of female preference functions for acoustic signals, and whether these preference functions are shaped differently in the presence versus absence of chorus-shaped noise.
Taylor McClain
I am a sophomore pursing a degree in Animal Science and joined the lab for the treefrog field season in 2025. As an undergraduate research assistant, I help collect and curate data on a range of projects about communication in crickets and frogs. In fall 2025, I assisted with field work on baffling in tree crickets and a related citizen science project.
Lab Alumni
Lauren Shinn
Lauren graduated from UTK in 2025, having double-majored in neuroscience and EEB. As a member of the Tanner Lab, she recorded and measured gray treefrog calls in East Tennessee to quantify their within- and between-individual variation as well as potential population differences. She did an independent research project funded by a Faculty Research Assistantship focusing on how within-individual variation affects male-male competition in natural choruses. Lauren was selected as EEB's Outstanding Undergraduate in spring 2025 and also won an award for best student poster at the CISAB conference held at Indiana University in summer 2025. She is now a PhD student in animal behavior at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Lauren graduated from UTK in 2025, having double-majored in neuroscience and EEB. As a member of the Tanner Lab, she recorded and measured gray treefrog calls in East Tennessee to quantify their within- and between-individual variation as well as potential population differences. She did an independent research project funded by a Faculty Research Assistantship focusing on how within-individual variation affects male-male competition in natural choruses. Lauren was selected as EEB's Outstanding Undergraduate in spring 2025 and also won an award for best student poster at the CISAB conference held at Indiana University in summer 2025. She is now a PhD student in animal behavior at Indiana University in Bloomington.