Erynn Johnson, Ph.D.
Research description: Erynn uses interdisciplinary approaches and biomechanical experimentation to understand how predation pressures shaped the evolution of mollusk shells over deep time. She utilizes mathematical modeling, 3D printing, and computer-automated design to test the form and function of modern, extinct, and theoretical morphologies. These tests are used to isolate and analyze how different aspects of mollusk shell morphology contribute to shell strength. Studying key intervals of ecological change in the fossil record allows us to understand how predators have influenced their prey over long periods of time, providing potential insights to the long-term impacts of human activities on marine ecosystems.
Fellowship dates: July 2021 – June 2023
Catherine Hernandez, Ph.D.
Research description: Catherine Hernandez is generally interested in how environmental change will alter microbial interactions. Just like in macroorganisms, microorganismal physiology and fitness are impacted by abiotic factors, and their ecology and evolution will be shaped by global change. At Yale, Catherine will be particularly focused on how temperature impacts the interactions between environmental bacteria and the bacteriophage (phage) viruses that infect them. Catherine will be using observational and experimental evolution approaches to study geographic patterns of thermal responses, the relationship between viral host range and thermal performance, and how virus populations adapt to changing temperatures. These results will provide insight into how temperature can alter microbial community composition, trait evolution, and the structure of microbial networks. Given the important role of phages in structuring microbial communities, this work has implications for predictions of climate change impacts on microbially-mediated ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling.
Fellowship dates: September 2021 – August 2023
Karen Chen, Ph.D.
Research description: Karen Chen is a quantitative geographer studying how urban land cover and form change over time and their impacts on human well-being. Working with Prof. Karen Seto, she will use the synergy of deep learning, remote sensing, and Geographic Information Systems to characterize the 3-D built environment and urbanization in the Global South.
Fellowship dates: September 2021 – August 2023
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 2024
Nohemi Huanca-Nuñez, Ph.D.
Research description: Nohemi’s research focuses on plant ecology, plant-animal interactions, and the understanding of mechanisms driving species diversity, distribution, and forest regeneration after natural and human disturbances. At Yale, Nohemi will be focused on the interaction between above-ground and below-ground functionality and the role of root traits in shaping composition in tree communities recovering from human disturbance.
Fellowship dates: August 2022 – July 2024
Cesar Martinez-Alvarez, Ph.D.
Research description: Cesar is an environmental social scientist interested in combining quantitative methods and qualitative sources to understand the political economy of deforestation. His doctoral research employs satellite imagery, administrative data, archival sources, and quasi-experimental empirical designs to study the drivers of community-based ecosystems stewardship in Mexico. He also studies the politics of governmental climate action in a comparative perspective, particularly surrounding fossil fuels subsidies.
Fellowship dates: August 2022 – July 2024
Sina Rometsch, Ph.D.
Research description: Sina is interested in understanding the dynamics of reproductive isolation in adaptive radiations. At YIBS, her research will focus on elucidating the environmental drivers of speciation in a radiation of anole lizards from the island of Hispaniola. Connecting species’ ecology with population genomic, behavioral and developmental approaches, she aims at determining how environmental gradients affect population divergence and the progression towards complete reproductive isolation.
Fellowship dates: November 2022 – October 2024
