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July 1997 - June 1999:
Joseph Kiesecker, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Nature Conservancy

Sponsor: Professor David Skelly, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Research: Disease Ecology – investigating the influence of fungal pathogens on the distribution of larval amphibians and dynamics of their communities.
 

July 1999 - June 2001:
Douglas Gollin, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Economics
Williams College
Economics Department
Williamstown, MA 01267
Sponsor: Professor Robert Evenson, Economic Growth Center
Research: Examined the impact of international agricultural research on the sustainable production of crops; studied management of materials in agricultural gene banks.
 

July 1999 - June 2001:

Ofer Ovadia, Ph.D.
Lecturer
Department of Life Sciences
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Israel

 
Sponsor: Oswald Schmitz, Oastler Professor of Population & Community Ecology and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs,  School of Forestry & Environmental Studies; Professor,  Ecology/Evolutionary Biology
Research: Testing the effect of state dependent decision making of individual herbivores on food web dynamics.
 

July 2000 - June 2002:

Claudio Ciofi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Animal Biology & Genetics
University of Florence
Via Romana 17, 50125
Florence, Italy
Sponsors: Dr. Gisella Caccone, ECOSAVE Conservation Genetics Laboratory and Lecturer, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology; and Jeffrey Powell, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research: Developed a number of research projects on the genetics and ecology of island reptiles, and established long-term collaboration with both US and foreign Institutions aimed at the management and conservation of endangered species.
 

September 2000 - August 2002:

Campbell Webb, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Arnold Arboretum
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

Sponsors: Mark Ashton, Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, Director of School Forests; and Michael Donoghue, G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Comparative Phylogenetic Structure of Rain Forest Tree Communities
 

July 2001- June 2003:
Luciano Beheregaray, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer
Macquaire University
Sydney, Australia
Head of MELMU and MEGMAR
Associate Editor, Conservation Genetics

Sponsor: Dr. Gisella Caccone, Director, ECOSAVE Conservation Genetics Laboratory; Lecturer, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Evolution and Conservation of Giant Galápagos Tortoises; Patterns of Diversification in Amazonian Fishes
 

July 2001- June 2003:

Jeremy Redman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Engineering
CA State University at Long Beach

1250 Bellflower Boulevard
Long Beach, California 90840

Sponsor: Menachem Elimelech, Roberto C. Goizueta Prof of Chem Engr; Chairman, Chemical Engineering & Director of the Environmental Engineering Program; Professor, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Research:  Bacterial Transport in Aquatic Systems; Interpreting Microbial Deposition Patterns
 

August 2002 - July 2004:

Jenney Hall, Ph.D.
Instructor of Oceanography
Glendale Community College
1500 North Verdugo Road
Glendale, California  91208

Sponsor: Professor Karl K. Turekian, Geology & Geophysics
Research:  Paleoceanographic and climate change reconstruction over various time scales.
 

January 2003 - December 2004:

Klaus Meiners, Ph.D.
Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems Cooperative Research Center
Private Bag 80
Hobart, Tas 7001 Australia

Sponsor: Professor John Wettlaufer, Geology & Geophysics
Research:  The ecology of frozen oceans -  controls on primary production in sympagic communities
 

October 2002 - September 2004:

Susanna Remold, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
University of Louisville
Louisville, KY

Sponsor: Professor Paul Turner, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Environmental heterogeneity and the evolutions of genetic architecture in viruses; career consequences of expertise with mammalian pathogens.
 

August 2003 - July 2005:

Amy Russell, Ph.D.
Research Associate
University of Arizona
Arizona Research Laboratory
Division of Biotechnology

Sponsor: Professor Anne Yoder, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Evolutionary history and biogeography of chameleons in a megadiversity hotspot.
 

August 2003 - July 2005:

Benjamin Twining, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208

Sponsor: Professor Gaboury Benoit, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Research:  Use of a combination of synchrotron-based x-ray fluorescence microscopy, AAS/and/or ICP-MS, and voltammetric techniques to study the factors controlling the accumulation of metals by estuarine biota.
 

October 2003 - September 2005:

Stephen Meyers, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Paleoclimatology, Sedimentary Geochemistry, Stratigraphy and Geostatistics
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Sponsor: Professor Mark Pagani, Geology & Geophysics
Research:  Quantifying Holocene climate response to the North Atlantic oscillation; the origin and stability of centennial-millennial scale cyclicity in quaternary.
 

August 2004 - July 2006:

Gregory Dietl, Ph.D.
Director of Collections at the Paleontological Research Institute
Adjunct Professor, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Cornell University

Ithaca, NY

Sponsor: Professor Derek Briggs, Department of Geology & Geophysics
Research:  Circumstances under which evolution occurs with particular interest in arms races between species in evolution.
 

July 2004 - June 2006:

Craig Layman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Marine Science Program
Department of Biological Sciences
Florida International University

Sponsor: Professor David Post, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  To address (1) does ecosystem size affect food chain length in Caribbean estuaries, and if so (2) which measure(s) of ecosystem size (e.g. water volume of estuaries, catchment surface area, amount of tidal flow, or “resource “shed” – the total area from which an ecosystem derives resources) is most useful in accounting for differences in FCL.
 

June 2005 - May 2007:

Helen Nguyen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

205 North Mathews Ave
Urbana, IL 61801-2352

 

Sponsor: Professor Menachem Elimelech, Environmental Engineering
Research:  Adsorption of genetic materials to soil minerals:  implications for horizontal gene transfer in the environment.
 

September 2005 - July 2006;
July 2007 - August 2008:

Margaret Evans, Ph.D.

Sponsors: Michael Donoghue, G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Stephen Stearns, Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Research in basic and applied plant evolutionary ecology, particularly in the fields of life history evolution, demography and population modeling.
 

September 2005 - August 2007:

Tracy Langkilde, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biology
Pennsylvania State University

417 Mueller Laboratory
University University Park, PA

Sponsor: Professor David Skelly, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Incorporating evolutionary theory into biodiversity conservation: how rapidly and effectively can native communities evolve to minimize the impact of invasive species?
 

September 2006 - August 2008:

Barry Alto, Ph.D.

Sponsor: Paul Turner, Associate Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Biostatistics and the ecology and evolution of arthropod-borne RNA viruses.
 

January 2007 - December 2008:

Dror Hawlena, Ph.D.

Sponsors:Oswald Schmitz, Oastler Professor of Population & Community Ecology and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs,  School of Forestry & Environmental Studies; Professor,  Ecology/Evolutionary Biology
Research:  The way disease agents and predators interact to alter the behavior of the species of host/prey that they share.
 

September 2006 - August 2008:

David Zinniker, Ph.D.

Sponsor: Mark Pagani, Associate Professor of Geology & Geophysics
Research:  Research interests lie at the broad intersection of the earth and life sciences, and have included work in organic geochemistry, micropaleontology, sedimentary geology, basin analysis, and petroleum systems.  A growing focus of his research is molecular organic proxies that address past  and present plant, algal, and microbial physiology and ecology; chemical and physical oceanography/limnology; hydrology; and climate.
 

October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2009 Katy Prudic, Ph.D. Sponsor: Antonia Monteiro, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research: Butterfly wing patterns are wonderfully diverse.  How and why did this group of insects acquire such a spectacular array of designs?  What is the utility of such designs?  A common wing pattern in butterflies have these eyespots by examining their signal efficacy in the field and the laboratory.  Much is know about how these eyespots are produced on the developing wings; however, very little is know regarding why butterflies have eyespots and how they function in nature.  Understanding the signal function of eyespots will give us a deeper understanding of wing coloration, signaling and biodiversity in butterflies.  Dr. Prudic will test two hypotheses explaining the function of border eyespots in butterflies: 1) eyespots function as an anti-predator defense, or 2) eyespots function in butterfly mate recognition and choice.
 
October 1, 2007 - September 30, 2009 Austin Hendy, Ph.D. Sponsor:  Derek E.G. Briggs, Frederick W. Beinecke Professor of Geology & Geophysics
Research:  Dr. Hendy's doctoral research has sought to investigate consequences of variations in large-scale environmental transitions (e.g. tectonic, climatic and sea level change) on the structure and diversity of past marine ecosystems.  Detecting such patterns in the fossil record, and accurately determining the processes responsible for them, is not only significant to evolutionary biology, but also of potential importance to the wider community.  Fundamental to the correct interpretation of paleobiological patterns is the quality of taxonomic information derived from the fossil record.  Evolutionary biologists should be concerned about how faithfully the fossil record represents the original biodiversity, including the nature of species and genera identified by paleontologists, and how fossil preservation (taphonomy) influences taxonomic procedures.
 
September 1, 2008 -
August 31, 2010
Matthew Brandley, Ph.D. Sponsor:  Tom Near, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research:  Developmental Processes of morphological diversity and their evolutionary response to climate change
October 1, 2008 -
September 30, 2010
Michael Dodd, Ph.D. Sponsor:  William Mitch, Associate Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Research: The influence of solar irradiation-generated halogen radicals on processing of marine dissolved organic matter: implications for oceanic photic zone depth and organic carbon bioavailability
 
August 1, 2008 -
July 31, 2010
Christopher Gilbert, Ph.D. Sponsors:  Andrew Hill, Clayton Stephenson Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology; Curator and Head of Anthropology Division, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and Eric Sargis, Associate Professor of Anthropology
Research: 
Paleoenvironments and the biodiversity, biogeography and phylogenetic history of African cercopithecoid monkeys
 


YIBS Postdoctoral Fellows

August 2002 -
July 2004

Linda Puth, Ph.D.
WildMetro
Scientific Consultant
P.O. Box 4220, Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163
Professor David Skelly
School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Putting the parts togethr:  A holistic treatment of invasion
August 1, 2008 -
July 31, 2010
Dr. Alexander Jih-Pai Lin Sponsor:  Derek Briggs, William Beinecke Professor of Geology & Geophysics
Research:  The uniqueness of Cambrian paleoecology and closure of the Cambrian taphonomic window
August 1, 2008 -
July 31, 2010
Chad Vecitis, Ph.D. Sponsor:  Menachem Elimelech, Roberto C. Goizueta Prof of Chem Engr; Chairman, Chemical Engineering & Director of the Environmental Engineering Program; Professor, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies
Research:  anti-microbial activity of single-walled carbon nanotubes, with investigations into membrane stress mediated toxicity

 
 Page updated 8/15/07

 

 

YALE INSTITUTE FOR BIOSPHERIC STUDIES
DIRECTOR, JEFFREY PARK
Rose Rita Riccitelli, Assistant Director
Daniele Dugre-Martin, Senior Administrative Assistant
Room 132, Environmental Science Center, 21 Sachem St.
P.O. Box 208105
New Haven, CT  06520-8105
Phone: (203) 432-9856
Fax: (203) 432-9927



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