Natural Sciences
Showing 1-100 of 597 Results
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Rodrigo Bello Carvalho
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2023
BioI am a field biologist deeply passionate about wildlife ecology and conservation. My academic and professional journey bridges research, fieldwork, and environmental stewardship across some of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems.
My work focuses on understanding the functional role of megafauna (large-bodied vertebrates) in shaping tropical ecosystems through processes such as frugivory, herbivory, and seed dispersal. I am particularly interested in how savanna biodiversity, structure, and functioning respond to the loss of megafauna (defaunation), and how ecological insights can inform restoration and conservation strategies in a rapidly changing world.
I hold a Master’s degree in Biodiversity Conservation and Management from the University of Oxford (2021), and graduated with honors in Biological Sciences (B.Sc., 2017) and Biology Teaching (B.Ed., 2018) from the University of Brasília (UnB). My ecological journey began at UnB’s Ecosystem Ecology Lab (2014–2018) under Prof. Mercedes Bustamante, where I first engaged with Cerrado ecology and savanna dynamics.
Driven by a commitment to applied conservation, I worked at the Brasília Zoological Garden Foundation (2018) and taught Science and Biology in Brasília’s private schools (2019), experiences that deepened my belief in connecting ecological science and conservation with communities.
At Oxford’s Ecosystems Lab (2020–2021), I studied defaunation and seed dispersal in the Cerrado, working under Dr. Imma Oliveras and Prof. Yadvinder Malhi. I later joined Brazil’s national environmental agency (ICMBio) as an Environmental Analyst and Park Ranger (2022–2023), where I was based in the Western Brazilian Amazon, engaging in biodiversity monitoring, sustainable management of natural resources, and frontline conservation enforcement of three Conservation Units within the Purus River Basin.
Currently, I am pursuing a PhD in Biology at Stanford University in the Dirzo Lab, where my research explores megafauna-ecosystem interactions across Brazilian and African savannas, with a focus on how defaunation reshapes ecosystems. I also collaborate with UNESP’s Bird Ecology Lab on frugivory, seed dispersal, and ecological restoration in the Atlantic Forest. -
Dayanne Carvalho
Ph.D. Student in Chemistry, admitted Summer 2021
BioChemical biology researcher interrogating host-immune interactions, passionate about uncovering molecular mechanisms and developing new therapeutics.
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Ben Church
Ph.D. Student in Mathematics, admitted Autumn 2021
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsI am interested in birational geometry in all characteristics.
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Debadri Das
Ph.D. Student in Applied Physics, admitted Autumn 2021
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsX-Ray Science; Atomic,Molecular and Optical Science; Quantum Information Science
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Casey Decosto
Ph.D. Student in Chemistry, admitted Autumn 2021
BioCassandra (Casey) Mendoza Decosto (she/they) is a proud first-generation Filipina American from Los Angeles, California. A Pasadena City College alumna who transferred to CSU-Los Angeles, she previously studied singlet-oxygen photochemistry with Prof. Matthias Selke. Now, as a Chemistry Ph.D. candidate in Prof. Laura Dassama’s lab, she leverages bioinformatic and biochemical approaches to discover novel proteins that drive metabolite trafficking, membrane remodeling, and antibiotic evasion in bacterial pathogens such as Treponema pallidum. As a CBI ChEM-H and EDGE fellow, Casey works to increase educational and research access on and off campus through programs like Stanford’s Community College Outreach Program (CCOP).
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Chunyang Ding
Ph.D. Student in Physics, admitted Summer 2023
BioChunyang Ding is a physicist working on novel implementations of quantum computing, currently living in Redwood City, CA. He graduated from Yale University with a B.S. in Physics (Intensive), and had worked in the labs of Professors Michel Devoret (superconducting qubits, microwave resonators), Nir Navon (ultracold atoms, MOT for Potassium), and Marla Geha (satelite galaxies, statistical analysis). He was previously an associate physicist at IonQ, a trapped ion quantum computing startup associated with Chris Monroe and Jungsang Kim, and is now a PhD student at Stanford/University of Chicago, working on novel fluxonium gate schemes in the lab of Professor David Schuster.
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Tristram O'Brien Dodge
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2021
BioI'm a PhD student in the Schumer Lab, interested in adaptation, hybridization, genome structure, and conservation.
