Meet the lab!

John G. Phillips (he/him)

Principal Investigator - jphillips1 [at] valdosta [dot] edu

Ph.D. - University of Tulsa, 2017

B.S. - Central Michigan University, 2012

Dr. Phillips is a genomic naturalist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Valdosta State University. His research interests include many aspects of molecular ecology and genomic evolution. He loves observing his study organisms (mostly herps, also land snails, some fishes) in their native habitats and is immensely fortunate to have conducted research in a variety of theaters from the caves of the Ozarks to the fjords of Iceland, to the famed Galápagos Islands where he searches for elusive land snails. ORCID: 0000-0003-3974-4309

The Phillips lab is always looking for students interested in doing a Master's degree or undergraduate researchers at Valdosta State! 

Could this be you? Email Dr. Phillips if you are interested!!!

Graduate Researchers

Ali Ashraf

Master's Student 2023–present

B.A. - Reed College, 2022

Ali Ashraf is a Master's student in the Phillips Lab. Here at VSU, he is studying phylogeography in the banded water snake (Nerodia fasciata). This research will explore how the evolution of these snakes has been affected by historic changes in geography that result from climate and glaciation patterns.

Originally from Fremont, California in the southeast San Francisco Bay Area, he earned his undergraduate degree in Portland, Oregon at Reed College where he wrote a senior thesis studying asexual reproduction in Columbian monkshood (Aconitum columbianum). When not on campus he spends his time with the VSU amateur radio club tinkering with radios and practicing morse code, designing rockets in Kerbal Space Program, posting pictures of the local wildlife to iNaturalist, and enjoying the warm Georgia weather. 

Alysa Smith

Master's Student 2024–present

Undergrad Researcher 2022–2023

B.S. - Valdosta State University, 2023

Originally an undergraduate research on the Anuran Acoustics team, Alysa is a Master's student in the Phillips Lab en route to attending Vet School.

Alysa's research interests include population and ecosystem health and she plans on studying population dynamics and demography of freshwater turtles in her Master's work.

Molly Little

4+1 Master's Student 2024–present

Undergrad Researcher 2023–2024

B.S. - Valdosta State University, 2025

Starting as an undergrad volunteer analyzing frog calls as part of our Anuran Acoustics project, Molly recently joined VSU's accelerated Masters program. 

Currently, Molly is working on a mark-recapture study of yellow-bellied sliders at Moody AFB to test impacts of habitat quality on demographics and population genetics.

Undergraduate Researchers

Mia Price

Undergrad Researcher 2022–present

B.S. 20??

Mia has been volunteering in the Phillips lab since fall of 2022. She plans on attending vet school, but in the meantime she conducted and presented a project on introduced lizards to the Hawaiian Islands! Mia is interested in animal ecology and behavior.

Clayton Gall

Undergrad Researcher 2023–present

B.S. 20??

Clay is interested in ecology and biogeography. Currently he is conducted coverboard experiments to survey and study fossorial herpetofauna in south Georgia, especially the (very) Slimy Salamander Plethodon grobmani.

Bibi Ismaily

Undergrad Researcher 2023–present

B.S. 20??

Bibi joined the lab in Fall of 2023 as she is interested in genetics and human health. Bibi is currently learning valuable bench skills such as DNA Extraction and PCR

Stella Phillips-Arteaga

Undergrad Researcher 2024–present

K.9. 2024

Stella is the most active member of the Phillips lab. Her research interests include keenly observing escape behavior in Valdosta's introduced brown anole population and mammalian fecal analysis.

Prospective Undergraduate Researcher(s)

Lots of space for lots of you here!!! 


*Caution is always encouraged if one is to pick up a snapping turtle...

The lab wants YOU! If you are a student in the Biology Department (or someone with biological interests!), email Dr. Phillips or stop by his office (BSC 2210)! (or lab, BSC2078)

Lab Alumni 

Jewell Johnson

Undergrad Researcher 2022–present

B.A. - Valdosta State University, 2024

Jewell has been working as part of the Anuran Acoustics team since 2022, having conducted several independent projects including her oral presentation Testing the Acoustic Adaptation Hypothesis: Anuran Signal Transmission at Different Heights during the 2024 VSU Undergraduate Research Symposium

Her interests center on wetland ecology, which she will be pursuing through the NSF Woods2Water Program through the University of Alabama and Jones Center at Ichauway.

Lab Alumni 

Presenter: 2023 Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference

Presenter: 2023 VSU Undergraduate Research Symposium