Armita Manafzadeh, Ph.D.
Research description: Armita is interested in the evolution and development of vertebrate animal form and function. She integrates approaches from biomechanics, paleontology, computer animation, and experimental biology to better understand how synovial joints (like hips and knees) work. At Yale, Armita will be exploring how her research can interface with ecology by studying ecomorphological diversification through a joint-focused lens.
Fellowship dates: July 2022 – June 2026
Craig Brinkerhoff, Ph.D.
Research description: Craig is a hydrologist and river scientist. He uses remote sensing, modeling, and hydro-geomorphic theory to improve understanding of global river basins and inform sustainable water resources management. At Yale, he is developing an integrated river corridor model for rivers, wetlands, floodplains, and headwater streams to elucidate their cumulative effects on downstream water quantity and quality.
Fellowship dates: July 2024 – June 2026
Eric Gulson-Castillo, Ph.D.
Research description: Eric studies the evolution of complex phenotypes in birds. For his PhD, he studied bird magnetoreception using comparative behavioral and neurosensory experimenets, and investigated macroecology of magnetoreception during migration using radar. At Yale, he will study the complexity of the syrinx, the sound-producing organ in birds, and how it evolves alongside neuroanatomy and the complexity of bird vocalizations.
Fellowship dates: September 2024 – August 2026
Tatiana Maeda, Ph.D.
Research description: Tatiana is a Brazilian ecologist interested in assessing the impacts of human activities on biodiversity and evaluating the effectiveness of conservation strategies in safeguarding it, using novel technologies such as bioacoustics in her research. At Yale, she will investigate how animal communities in the Southeast Amazon respond to key degradation drivers and how these changes may influence the ecyosystem’s capacity to resist and adapt to climate change.
Fellowship dates: October 2024 – October 2026
Vikash Pandey, Ph.D.
Research description: Vikash is a physicist, specializing in fluid dynamics and soft matter physics. His research includes: understanding flows from rising bubbles, dust-gas interactions, modeling elastic membranes, and mechanical properties of nanovesicles. At Yale, he aims to investigate fluid dynamics in sponge canal systems by determining its 3D canal morphology to understand how sponges adapt their canal architecture to optimize fluid flow and nutrient uptake in varying environmental conditions.
Fellowship dates: July 2025 - June 2027
Sheila Rodriguez Machado, Ph.D.
Research description: Sheila is an ichthyologist and evolutionary biologist interested in untangling the biotic and abiotic factors that drive diversification in freshwater fishes. At Yale, she will use an interdisciplinary, multispecies, predictive phylogeographic approach - combining genome-scale, environmental, and geophysical data - to investigate the interplay among geological events, demographic changes, and species divergence in the context of the Greater Antilles’ evolution.
Fellowship dates: August 2025 - July 2027
Srishti Sadhir, Ph.D.
Research description: Srishti is a physiologist and maternal health researcher interested in how humans and other primates manage the energy costs of pregnancy given diverse lifestyles and environments. At Yale, she will investigate the molecular effects of energy stress during pregnancy, demonstrating possible mechanisms by which maternal health is affected by environmental factors and climate change.
Fellowship dates: July 2025 - June 2027
