Eric Sargis
Director, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies
Professor of Anthropology, Archaeological Studies, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and the Yale School of the Environment, Department of Anthropology
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Vertebrate Zoology (Mammalogy), Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “I study the functional morphology and systematics of both living and extinct mammals. My research focuses on the biodiversity, morphological evolution, and paleobiology of several groups of mammals, including primates and treeshrews.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Evolution, Paleobiology
Carla Staver
Associate Director, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies
Associate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “I am interested in the ecology and ecosystem impacts of chronic disturbances (including fire and herbivory), especially at the interface of savannas and forests. I work mostly in African savannas but have global interests in fire- and herbivory-prone ecosystems.”
Research keyword: Ecosystem Ecology
Jay Ague
Henry Barnard Davis Memorial Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “Rock formation processes operating deep within active mountain belts produce and consume water, carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur compounds, and other chemical species of environmental significance. Our laboratory investigates the role that these processes play in global geochemical cycling and the long-term evolution of climate. Furthermore, we study how natural rock carbonation processes preserved in the geologic record may provide valuable analogs for the large-scale sequestration of anthropogenic carbon.”
Research keywords: Climate, Geochemical Cycling, Carbon Sequestration
Paul Anastas
Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment, Yale School of the Environment and the Department of Chemistry
Research description: “Anastas’ research focuses on green chemistry and green engineering. The application of the principles of green chemistry to energy, materials, synthesis, and molecular design.”
Research keywords: Green Chemistry, Sustainability, Climate Change
Michelle Bell
Mary E. Pinchot Professor of Environmental Health, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Dr. Bell’s research examines how human health is affected by environmental conditions, including air pollution and weather. Other research interests include the health impacts of climate change and environmental justice. Much of this work is based in epidemiology, biostatistics, and environmental engineering. The research is designed to be policy-relevant and contribute to well-informed decision-making to better protect human health and benefit society.”
Research keywords: Public Health, Climate Change, Environmental Justice
David Bercovici
Frederick William Beinecke Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “Mantle dynamics, plate tectonics, planetary physics, geophysical fluid dynamics, theoretical mineral physics, carbon capture/sequestration.”
Research keyword: Earth System Physics
Bhart-Anjan Bhullar
Assistant Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences and Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Vertebrate Zoology, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “My group focuses on great transitions in the history of vertebrates. In the field and in the lab, we use the geological record of life to guide questions about major transformations across Vertebrata, especially at the origins of extant radiations such as (but not limited to) birds, mammals, tetrapods, and gnathostomes. To address the nature and mechanism of pivotal events at crucial points in evolutionary history, we bring to bear a full range of modern biological and geological techniques, especially molecular developmental biology and functional biology, coupled with advanced three-dimensional imaging and geometric analysis. However, we maintain a surpassing commitment to the discovery of new fossils in the field; these will always be the inspiration, the grist, and the final validating test for work on the history of life.”
Ruth E. Blake
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “My research in experimental biogeochemistry, geomicrobiology and stable isotope geochemistry explores the co-evolution of Earth and life and paleoclimate using various chemical and stable isotope tools/ proxies. Research emphasizes the chemical and isotopic signatures of microbial metabolisms and processes in marine environments and their imprint on the rock record from deep-time to present.”
Research keywords: Biogeochemistry, Geomicrobiology, Paleoclimate
Mark Bradford
Professor, Soils and Ecosystem Ecology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description:”Bradford’s research group investigates how soil microbes, animals and their interactions with plants govern carbon cycle responses to global change and ecosystem management. Their current work spans questions that address uncertainties in Earth system feedbacks to quantifying soil and forest health. He is particularly interested in how organisms and their interactions affect decomposition processes, soil carbon and how changes in these variables affect ecosystem services, such as agricultural yields.”
Research keywords: Soil Carbon, Forests, Sustainable Agriculture
Richard Bribiescas
Professor of Anthropology and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Anthropology
Research description: “I’m interested in the evolution of human life histories, including aspects of reproduction, aging, and metabolism. My research entails the assessment of hormones and other biomarkers in non-industrialized societies as well as comparative species. I am currently engaged in research projects in Ecuador among Shuar communities, rural Poland, and Samoa.”
Research keywords: Human Evolution, Diversity, Life History Theory
Derek E.G. Briggs
G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Curator, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “My research is on the preservation and evolutionary significance of exceptionally preserved fossil biotas. This involves a range of approaches from experimental work on the factors controlling decay and fossilization, through studies of early diagenetic mineralization and organic preservation, to field work on a range of extraordinary fossil occurrences and considerations of the ecology and relationships of the animals that they yield.”
Research keywords: Paleontology, Evolutionary Biology, History of Life
Craig Brodersen
Professor of Plant Physiological Ecology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Our group studies the relationships between plant form and function, with a specific focus on photosynthesis and vascular transport. We use a combination of theoretical and empirical approaches, as well as the development of new instrumentation and software. We use these tools to explore plant performance both within an evolutionary context, but also in applied, agricultural settings.”
Research keywords: Plants, Photosynthesis, Drought
Indy Burke
Carl W. Knobloch, Jr. Dean, Yale School of the Environment
Professor of Ecosystem Ecology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “I am an ecosystem ecologist and biogeochemist, focusing on carbon and nitrogen cycling in dryland ecosystems. Most of my work focuses on changes in carbon and nitrogen cycling with land use management, climate change, across landscapes.”
Research keywords: Biogeochemistry, Ecosystem Conservation, Drylands
Adalgisa (Gisella) Caccone
Senior Research Scientist and Lecturer, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “I am an evolutionary biologist interested in using genomic data to address issues in conservation and invasion biology. molecular ecology, and vector and parasites evolutionary genetics.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Public Health
Liza Comita
Professor of Tropical Forest Ecology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “My research addresses both fundamental and applied questions in the field of plant community ecology, with an emphasis on understanding the drivers of biodiversity in both intact and human-altered forest ecosystems. Much of my research focuses on forest understory dynamics and species coexistence in tropical tree communities. In my lab, we use a variety of approaches to address our research questions, including long-term observational studies, field and greenhouse experiments, and computer simulations.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Community Ecology, Tropical Forests
Jennifer Coughlan
Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “The Coughlan lab seeks to understand the process of speciation and adaptation by integrating field work, common garden experiments, development, and quantitative and population genomics. We focus on a wild flower genus, Mimulus.”
Research keywords: Speciation, Adaptation, Genomics
Aaron Dollar
Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science & Computer Science, School of Engineering & Applied Science
Research description: “Prof. Dollar is a roboticist with interests in the ways that tools from a range of applied computing areas (e.g. machine learning, image and signal processing, sensing, and robotics) can be applied to a broad range of problems in Ecology, Environmental Science, and Evolutionary Biology. Prior and ongoing work has focused on functional morphology of hands and grasping (in humans, non-human primates, and birds), and current work focuses on use of drones for environmental monitoring as well as machine learning for automated classification of herbaria specimens.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Ecosystem Ecology, Functional Morphology
Michael Donoghue
Sterling Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and the Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “We study the phylogeny of plants to understand the evolution of their morphological characteristics, patterns of diversification, and historical biogeography. We are especially interested in how plants have moved around the globe in relation to past climate change.”
Research keywords: Plant Evolution, Biodiversity, Climate Change
Casey Dunn
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Informatics, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “We study how evolution has produced a diversity of life. We are interested in learning about the actual history of life on Earth as well as the general properties of evolution that have contributed to these historical patterns. The type of questions we ask require field (marine), laboratory, and computational work.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Evolution, Marine Biology
Erika Edwards
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Curator of Botany, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Director, Marsh Botanical Gardens
Research description: “My lab group studies the evolutionary origins of complex trait syndromes in plants. We tend to focus on traits that have played especially prominent roles in the adaptation of plant lineages to novel climates. Our approach requires a wide variety of biological sub-disciplines, including phylogenetics, physiology, anatomy, genomics, and field ecology, and we integrate these data types to produce a more complete picture of whole organism evolution.”
Research keywords: Evolution, Biodiversity, Botany
Menachem Elimelech
Sterling Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, and the School of Engineering & Applied Science
Research description: “My research focuses on membrane-based technologies at the water-energy nexus, materials for next-generation desalination and water reuse membranes, and environmental applications of novel materials.”
Research keywords: Water-Energy Nexus, Water treatment, Desalination and Water Reuse
David Evans
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “I’m interested in general evolution of planet Earth: particularly in its tectonic history of mobile continents and supercontinents (Pangea, Rodinia, Nuna, …), their relation to underlying mantle convection and core evolution, and their influence on long-term global climate and biology. My paleomagnetism laboratory measures magnetic directions preserved in ancient rocks to chart the motions of Earth’s tectonic plates, generating dynamic global paleogeographic atlases across billions of years.”
Research keywords: Tectonics, Paleogeography, Paleoclimate
Vanessa Ezenwa
Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “I study the ecology of infectious diseases with a specific focus on linking processes across scales. My lab investigates how behavioral, physiological, and ecological processes at the individual level shape interactions between hosts and their parasites and pathogens, and the consequences for population and community-wide patterns of disease. We combine field studies with laboratory approaches and theory to address fundamental questions about the ecology of infectious diseases in wild animal populations.”
Research keywords: Infectious Disease, Ecology, Behavior
Alexey Fedorov
Professor of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Eli Fenichel
Knobloch Family Professor of Natural Resource Economics, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “I consider natural resource and ecological stocks as a form or capital (or liability). I work on a wide variety of systems including natural capital valuation theory and methods, fisheries, infectious disease, groundwater, forests, and invasive species.”
Research keywords: Natural Capital, Economic-Epidemiology, Couple Human-Natural Systems
Eduardo Fernández-Duque
Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology
Research description: “I am a biological anthropologist interested in understanding the evolution of social and mating systems. I study living primates as an approach to understanding the evolution of human behavior, particularly male-female relationships, pair bonding and fatherhood/paternal care. Given my work with monkeys in the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Argentinean Chaco I am also interested in the conservation of tropical and subtropical forests.”
Research keywords: Behavioral Ecology, Evolutionary Anthropology, Primates
Jacques Gauthier
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Vertebrate Zoology, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “Phylogeny and evolution of Reptilia (including Aves). Comparative vertebrate anatomy. Influence of climate and geography on reptile evolution from mid-Mesozoic through Cenozoic.”
Research keywords: Morphology, Phylogeny, Evolution
Kenneth Gillingham
Professor of Economics, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “I am an energy and climate economist drawing upon multiple disciplines to answer policy-relevant questions relating to transportation, energy efficiency, innovation in new technologies, and broader climate policy. My work uses methods including statistical modeling, simulation modeling, and field experiments.”
Research keywords: Climate, Energy, Resources, Health
Nyeema Harris
Knobloch Family Associate Professor of Wildlife and Land Conservation, Yale School of the Environment
Director, Applied Wildlife Ecology (AWE) Lab
Research description: “In my Applied Wildlife Ecology (AWE) Lab, our work spans the globe, across scales and ecosystems from cities to protected areas to investigate carnivore ecology, behavior, conservation, and human-wildlife conflict. We aim to facilitate exposure, broaden participation in who has agency and contributes to knowledge production, and stimulate an awe for the natural world. Ultimately, we strive to do socially-relevant ecology by implementing inclusive scholarship that contributes to promoting wildlife persistence and coexistence.”
Research keywords: Wildlife Ecology, Biogeography, Conservation
Pincelli Hull
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Assistant Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “My research focuses on understanding the causes and consequences of major environmental change in earth’s history and how these events relate to evolution of life and ecosystems. My work centers on reconstructing the history of the open oceans because of the relatively resolved environmental and biotic records provided by microfossils over the last ~150 million years. From these records, we reconstruct past climatic and oceanographic dynamics, the causes and consequences of mass extinctions, and the response of life to environmental change large and small.”
Research keywords: Paleontology, Mass Extinctions, Oceans and Climate
Walter Jetz
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “Research in my group addresses biodiversity dynamics in a changing world. We are particularly interested in the scale-dependence of both evidence and mechanism in biodiversity science and how environment, ecological, and macroevolutionary mechanisms combine to determine the co-occurrence of species and the structure of assemblages. We aim to use this as basis for assessing the fate of biodiversity and its functions under global change. We work with a variety of systems, both animals and plants, but have to date been particularly active addressing birds and terrestrial vertebrates.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Global Ecology, Global Change
Bill Lauenroth
Professor, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “I study ecosystems in dry areas. My current research concentrates on questions associated with mixtures of grasses and shrubs or on ecosystems dominated by shrubs. My research interests include: plant population and community ecology; ecohydrology, ecosystem ecology, and the effects of projected climate change on plant communities and ecosystems. I use simulation modeling as a key exploratory and analysis tool across all of the organizational and spatial scales of my research. My current research is on big sagebrush plant communities and ecosystems in western North America.”
Research keywords: Big Sagebrush, Climate Change, Ecosystem Ecology
Xuhui Lee
Director, YIBS/Yale Center for Earth Observation
Sara Shallenberger Brown Professor of Meteorology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Professor Lee’s research and teaching concern the interactions between the terrestrial biosphere, the atmosphere and anthropogenic drivers. His areas of interest include boundary-layer meteorology, micrometeorological instrumentation, remote sensing, and carbon cycle science. His research methodology consists of field observations (eddy covariance, optical isotope instruments, and high-precision greenhouse gas analyzers), mathematical models (land surface models, large-eddy simulation, WRF, and earth system models), and environmental remote sensing (satellites and drones).”
Research keywords: Climate, Land Use, Remote Sensing
Sparkle Malone
Assistant Professor, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “My research evaluates how and why ecosystems are changing. I study ecosystem function across space and time to better understand ecosystem condition, sustainability, and vulnerability to extremes. This work lies at the intersection of ecology, remote sensing, and data science with the goal of understanding the processes that govern ecosystem health at large scales, so that we can predict the impacts of changes in climate, hydrology, and land management.”
Research keywords: Carbon, Ecosystems, Resilience
Jennifer Marlon
Research Scientist and Lecturer, Yale School of the Environment and Yale Program on Climate Change Communication
Research description: “My research investigates wildfire-climate-ecosystem dynamics and human responses to extreme events (e.g., wildfire and drought). I use a variety of approaches, including experiments, surveys, data synthesis, and modeling.”
Research keywords: Climate Change, Paleoecology, Extreme Weather, Risk Perception
Martha Muñoz
Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “My lab focuses on the evolutionary physiology of reptiles and amphibians. Specifically, we study how these organisms interact with their thermal and hydric environments, and discover how those interactions structure evolutionary patterns of phenotypic and lineage diversity. Based on our discoveries, we infer how vulnerability to ongoing global change is spatially and phylogenetically structured to identify priorities for conservation.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity, Ecophysiology, Evolution
Thomas Near
Chair and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Bingham Oceanographic Curator of Ichthyology, Peabody Museum of Natural History
Head of College, Saybrook College
Brandon Ogbunu
Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “The Ogbunu Lab studies how complex interactions between genetic information, hosts, parasites, and environments craft disease phenomena. In doing so, his laboratory aims to reveal fragilities in disease systems that can be leveraged for health interventions and explore diseases as models for theoretical questions in evolution and ecology.”
Research keywords: Evolutionary Biology, Complex Systems, Epidemiology
Jeffrey Park
Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “Theoretical and Observational Seismology. Plate Tectonics and Earth-System Science. Geological Time Series and Paleoclimate”
Research keywords: Earth Structure, Earth Dynamics, Earth-System Science
Jordan Peccia
Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Professor of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering, and the School of Engineering & Applied Science
Research description: “Research in the Peccia lab integrates biotechnology, genetics and engineering to solve important environmental problems. Principle areas of research include human exposure to and health impacts from pathogenic and beneficial microbes in the indoor and outdoor environment, wastewater-based epidemiology, and biological control of global methane emission. Along with quantitative engineering-based fundamentals and tools, we have developed extensive molecular and computational biology skill sets and strategic collaborations in public health, epidemiology, and data sciences.”
Research keywords: Indoor Environment, Public Health, Climate Change
Virginia Pitzer
Associate Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases), Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health
Research description: “Dr. Virginia Pitzer’s research focuses on mathematical modeling of the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases, including rotavirus, typhoid fever, and RSV. Dr. Pitzer studies how interventions such as vaccination, improved treatment of cases, and improvements in sanitation affect disease transmission at the population level. Dr. Pitzer is also interested in methods for understanding associations between climate and infectious disease dynamics.”
Research keywords: Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology, Mathematical Modeling
Noah Planavsky
Associate Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “I am an isotope geochemist that works on environmental change in Earth’s past, present, and future. Current projects focus on changes in ocean oxygen levels, tracking how primary productivity has changed through time, and on the potential for carbon capture through enhanced mineral weathering in marine and terrestrial environments.”
Research keywords: Geochemistry, Geobiology, Carbon Capture
David Post
Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “I study complex food web structure and dynamics, interactions between ecology and evolution, conservation and management of aquatic resources, climate change, and the role of mobile consumers in linking ecosystems. I work primarily in aquatic systems, but I also study interactions and processes that link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.”
Research keywords: Ecology, Evolution, Climate
Jeffrey Powell
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of the Environment and the School of Public Health
Research description: “Our research focuses on the genetics of mosquitoes and their evolutionary history. Our present work focuses on Aedes aegypti, the major vector of yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses.”
Research keywords: Evolutionary Genetics, Public Health, Mosquitoes
Richard Prum
William Robertson Coe Professor of Ornithology and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Head Curator of Vertabrate Zoology (Ornithology), Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “My recent research has focused on theoretical and molecular studies of the development and evolution of feathers, developing and applying new tools for the study of the physics and evolution of structural coloration, and continued efforts in phylogenetic ethology of polygynous birds (Link to Research page). I have conducted field work throughout the Neotropics and in Madagascar and have studied fossil theropods in China. I am Curator of Ornithology in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Head Curator of Vertebrate Zoology.”
Simon Queenborough
Musser Director, Yale Tropical Resources Institute
Senior Lecturer & Research Scientist, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “The sessile nature, modular construction, and evolutionary flexibility that plants exhibit lead to intriguing challenges in ‘thinking like a plant’. Such challenges include how over 600 species of tree can coexist within 1-ha of rain forest, how plants allocate limited resources to growth, defense, and reproduction, and how populations respond to biotic and abiotic factors. Using a range of techniques from greenhouse experiments, long-term censuses, literature and herbarium research, to large-scale data collection and cutting-edge statistical modelling, we address a variety of pure and applied questions that are ultimately concerned with how individuals, species, and communities (including humans) interact over both ecological and evolutionary time.”
Research keywords: Community Ecology, Phenology, Reproduction, Tropical Forests
Narasimha Rao
Associate Professor of Energy Systems, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Dr. Rao’s research examines the relationship between energy, human development, and climate change. He studies equity dimensions of energy transitions and their development impacts in emerging economies. He has developed the idea of ‘decent living energy,’ the energy needs to support basic well-being in different societies.”
Research keywords: Energy, Inequality, Climate
Peter Raymond
Professor of Ecosystem Ecology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Biogeochemistry of aquatic systems.”
Research keywords: Greenhouse Gases, Rivers, Carbon
Alan Rooney
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “I am interested in understanding the interactions between tectonics, the cryosphere, the evolution of complex life and geochemical cycles on a range of time scales. I use radiogenic isotope geochemistry combined with field-based mapping, sedimentology, stratigraphy and mineralogy to interrogate the rock record of critical transitions in Earth history.”
Research keywords: Geochemistry, Climate, Evolution
Holly Rushmeier
John C. Malone Professor of Computer Science, Yale University
Research description: “My research is in the development and application of methods for generating photorealistic computer graphics imagery. My group works on imaging for documentation and analysis of both cultural and natural heritage. We extract models of texture and geometry from images and use realistic synthetic images in machine learning for image interpretation.”
Research keywords: Image Analysis, Cultural Heritage, Natural Heritage
James Saiers
Clifton R. Musser Professor of Hydrology, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Saiers studies how human activities affect the chemical composition of drinking-water resources and alter freshwater flows within aquifers, wetlands, and river basins. His recent research projects address water-quality impacts of fossil-fuel development, carbon and nutrient transport through watersheds, radionuclide migration in groundwater, and climate-change effects on water resources.”
Research keywords: Hydrology, Water Resources, Water Quality
Luke Sanford
Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy and Governance, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “I study the political economy of environmental stewardship: how do citizens and politicians value the preservation or exploitation of natural resources, and how are those values converted into actions and policies? My research combines deep understanding of environmental processes and governance with methods from computer vision, spatial statistics, and natural language processing that facilitate use of satellite imagery and text for casual inference around these equations.”
Research keywords: Environmental Politics, Political Economy, Remote Sensing
Oswald (Os) Schmitz
Senior Associate Dean of Research & Director of Doctoral Studies, Yale School of the Environment
Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology, Yale School of the Environment and the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description:”My research aims to discern the rules of life governing how the varieties of carnivore, herbivore, and plant species thrive in and sustain the ecosystems they inhabit. These insights help to inform environmental stewardship to enhance the conservation of wildlife species in ways that ensure the sustainability of ecosystems, their functions, and the services that they provide to humankind.”
Research keywords: Biodiversity Conservation, Community Ecology, Ecosystem Functioning and Services
Karen Seto
Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Professor Seto’s central research focus is how urbanization will affect the planet. A geographer by training, she integrates remote sensing, field interviews, and modeling methods to study urbanization and land change, future urban land expansion, and the environmental consequences of urbanization at scale. She has pioneered methods to reconstruct historical land-use and to develop empirical models to explain and forecast the expansion of urban areas. She has extensive fieldwork experience in Asia, especially China and India, where she has conducted research for over 20 and 10 years, respectively. Her research has generated new knowledge on the links between urbanization and food systems, the effects of urban expansion on biodiversity and cropland loss, urban energy use and emissions, and urban mitigation of climate change.”
Research keywords: Urbanization, Climate Change, Biodiversity
David Skelly
Frank R. Oastler Professor of Ecology, Yale School of the Environment
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Director, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “We study the mechanisms that underly distribution and abundance of organisms with a particular focus on the interaction between ecological and evolutionary mechanisms. Much of our work has been on amphibians including the ways in which human modified environments affect populations.”
Research keywords: Ecology and Evolution of Amphibians, Freshwater Ecosystems, Conservation Science
Ronald Smith
Emeritus Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Lidya Tarhan
Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “My group uses the sedimentary record to reconstruct ancient life and environments during key intervals in Earth’s history. In particular, we investigate the interplay between animals, microbial consortia and environments and the role of animals as environmental and ecosystem engineers—from minute to global scales—in both ancient and modern settings. We also study processes of fossilization and how preservational biases modify the stratigraphic record. Our research employs a sedimentological, paleontological, geochemical and experimental toolkit, combining field work, laboratory-based investigations and modeling.”
Research keywords: Organism-Environment Interactions, Bioturbation, Fossilization
Dorceta Taylor
Senior Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Professor of Environmental Justice, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “I use frameworks of social inequality and justice to examine (a) food insecurity in several cities in the Midwest and New England; (b) lack of diversity in environmental organizations; (c) exposure to environmental hazards; and (d) access to and use of parks, forests, and other open spaces. My research examines historical and contemporary forms of environmental inequalities through the lens of power, privilege, racism, and sexism.”
Research keywords: Food Insecurity, Institutional Diversity, Environmental Justice, Nature and the Outdoors
Jessica Thompson
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology
Research description: “Jessica Thompson specializes in human evolution, especially those aspects that can be revealed through the analysis of ancient animal bones found at archaeological sites (zooarchaeology). She leads the Malawi Ancient Lifeways and Peoples Project in Malawi, central Africa, where she has maintained a field site since 2009. This multidisciplinary work combines archaeological science, evolutionary theory, and hunter-gatherer ethnography to develop and interpret the first cultural and paleoenvironmental chronologies in the region that span the transition from the last Ice Age. Her other research, based on collaborative work in Ethiopia, targets the opposite end of the archaeological record, at its origin in the Pliocene. Thompson is PI of the Paleoarchaeology Laboratory at Yale University.”
Research keywords: Paleoclimate, Archaeology, Paleoanthropology
Mary-Louise Timmermans
Damon Wells Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Research description: “Polar climate; physical oceanography of the Arctic Ocean”
Research keywords: Climate, Oceans, Cryosphere
Serena Tucci
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology
Research description: “The Tucci Lab addresses fundamental questions in human evolution and population history using DNA from present-day and ancient humans. We use an interdisciplinary approach that combines expertise from anthropology, population genetics, and computational biology, to reconstruct past demographic events and disentangle the genetic basis of human adaptation.”
Research keyword: Human Evolutionary Genomics
Paul Turner
Rachel Carson Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “Turner studies the biodiversity of microbes, especially the evolutionary genetics and genomics of viruses and their abilities to adapt (or not) to biotic and abiotic environmental changes. This research on the evolution of microbial biodiversity examines questions at many different levels: molecules, proteins, cells, populations, communities and ecosystems. Topic areas include: the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases; testing theoretical predictions of pathogen evolvability and emergence on novel hosts; and evolutionary medicine, especially the use of ‘evolution-thinking’ to better understand human illness and to discover novel disease treatments.”
Research keywords: Evolutionary Biology, Microbiology, Public Health
Anne Underhill
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Curator, Peabody Museum of Natural History
Research description: “Urbanization in late prehistoric China, change in craft production (ceramics, lithics), landscape analysis for investigation of ancient economic activities (including food resources).”
Research keywords: Archaeology of Late Prehistoric East Asia, Ethnoarchaeology, Human Use of Landscapes and Impact on Landscapes Over Time
Claudia Valeggia
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Research description: “My work is primarily concerned with the interactions between human reproductive biology and the ecological and cultural context in which it develops. My research program takes a biosocial and situated approach, that is, the interplay between biology, society, and culture takes a central role in interpreting lived experience of humans. Some of the topics I have explored are the correlates of the return to postpartum fecundity, the variation in reproductive hormonal levels within and between women in relation to environmental variables, growth and development patterns in infants and children, and variation in male and female life history in populations experiencing drastic lifestyle changes.”
Research keywords: Reproductive Ecology, Public Health, Latin American Indigenous Peoples
David Vasseur
Professor, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “I am a theoretical ecologist addressing fundamental questions in community ecology by developing new mathematical theory, conducting simple lab-based experiments, and analyzing long-term data. The questions I address are motivated by a desire to mechanistically describe the processes underlying population and community dynamics in natural ecosystems.”
Research keywords: Theoretical Ecology, Community Ecology, Eco-evolutionary Dynamics
Madhusudhan Venkadesan
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Research description: “I study the mechanics and control of how animals move. Problems being pursued include locomotion in animals, the geometry of joints, the topology of shape-changing skins, and the rheology of muscle. Motivations and applications for my work include biomedical sciences, evolutionary biology, robotics, and plain curiosity about everyday observations.”
Research keywords: Biomechanics, Organismal Biology, Applied Mathematics
John Wargo
Chair, Yale College Environmental Studies Program
Tweedy Ordway Professor of Environmental Health and Politics, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Professor Wargo’s research explores threats to human health posed by environmental hazards. He topics include exposures to pesticides, solvents, vehicle emissions, toxins in foods, plastics, flame-retardants, metals, and chemicals released outdoors and indoors. Current research examines environmental and health challenges associated with the global food system.”
Research keywords: Health, Environment, Children, Law
David Watts
Professor, Department of Anthropology
Archaeological Studies, Cognitive Science, Council on African Studies
Research description: “I am a Biological Anthropologist specialized in the study of nonhuman primate social behavior and ecology. I have been Co-Director of the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project in Kibale National Park, Uganda since 1995. My research and that of students and colleagues focuses on chimpanzee social dynamics, feeding ecology, demography and life history strategies, hunting and meat eating, intergroup aggression, and a host of other topics. Other of my students have studied the behavioral ecology, genetics, and conservation of colobine monkeys in Uganda, spider monkeys in Peru, and sifakas on Madagascar.”
Research keywords: Primates, Behavioral Ecology, Chimpanzees
Michelle Wong
Assistant Professor (Incoming Fall 2023), Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Research description: “I am interested in how plants and microbes interact with nutrient availability to shape terrestrial ecosystem responses to global change. More specifically, how do terrestrial ecosystems overcome nutrient limitation to facilitate carbon storage in plant biomass and soils, and how can our findings inform ecosystem management and restoration efforts?”
Research keywords: Ecosystem Ecology, Biogeochemistry, Forests
Yuan Yao
Assistant Professor of Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Systems, Yale School of the Environment
Research description: “Dr. Yuan Yao’s research investigates how emerging technologies and industrial development will affect the environment. She uses interdisciplinary approaches in industrial ecology, sustainable engineering, and machine learning to develop systems analysis tools to support engineering and policy decisions towards sustainability. She develops new methods and integrated modeling frameworks to assess, advance, and optimize industrial systems for improved environmental and societal outcomes.”
Research keywords: Industrial Ecology, Bioenergy, Decarbonization
Julie Zimmerman
Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Professor of Green Engineering, Yale School of the Environment
Assistant Director for Research at Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering
Research description: “The material basis of a sustainable society will depend on chemical products and processes that are designed following principles that make them conducive to life. Important inherent properties of molecules need to be considered from the earliest stage—the design stage—to address whether compounds and processes are depleting versus renewable, toxic versus benign, and persistent versus readily degradable. Products, feedstocks, and manufacturing processes will need to integrate the principles of green chemistry and green engineering under an expanded definition of performance that includes sustainability considerations. This transformation will require the best of the traditions of science and innovation coupled with new emerging systems thinking and systems design that begins at the molecular level and results in a positive impact on the global scale.”
Research keywords: Green Chemistry, Sustainability, Water Treatment