School of Humanities and Sciences
Showing 1-100 of 148 Results
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Zhainib A. Amir
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2020
BioI received my B.S. in Microbiology, and M.S. in Cell and Molecular Biology from San Francisco State University. Currently, I am a Biology Ph.D. student with an emphasis in Cell, Molecular and Organismal Biology at Stanford University. I am interested in a range of topics, from cell biology to cancer immunology, however, my research interests lie primarily in understanding the cellular mechanisms at play in genetic and autoimmune diseases.
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Christopher Anderson
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2016
BioMy research focuses on the use of satellite remote sensing technology to characterize multi-scale patterns of terrestrial biodiversity. I am interested in understanding how ecosystem structure and function changes for multiple taxonomic groups as a result of anthropogenic forces. These forces include land use change, climate change, establishing protected areas, the development of novel ecosystems, and assisted migration.
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Daniel Berenson
MD Student, expected graduation Spring 2021
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2015
MSTP StudentBioI am an MD/PhD student through the Medical Scientist Training Program. I completed my PhD in Biology in Jan Skotheim's lab for studies on cell cycle and cell size regulation, and now am completing medical school.
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Paul Bump
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Summer 2016
BioPaul Bump is an explorer of the small and squishy. His research in strange, enigmatic, marine invertebrates hopes to unlock secrets around basic biological processes and provide novel perspectives to advance fundamental cell biology research. He currently studies how an organism can build two wildly different bodies during its life while having access to the same genetic information. While puzzling, the process of indirect development, with distinct larval and adult body plans, is the most common developmental strategy in many animals. His research involves studying the metamorphosis of Schizocardium californicum, an indirect developing hemichordate worm, which transforms from a small swimming planktonic balloon into a burrowing, muscular worm in a 24-48 hour time period.
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Benjamin Burford
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2015
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsFor my PhD research, I utilize in situ footage, comparative respirometry, scientific surveys, animal-borne data loggers, and oceanographic data to understand the competitive ability of ecologically-similar social squid and fish in an environmental context.
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Rachel Crane
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2015
BioRachel is interested in molluscan shell form. Animals’ shells defend them from a variety of environmental dangers and predatory attacks, including a multitude of low-magnitude, repeated stresses, which could cumulatively cause lethal fatigue damage. She studies how shell features—from composition and microstructure to overall morphology—contribute to fatigue resistance. By developing new mechanical techniques to test shell fatigue resistance, she hopes to answer questions about the evolution of shell shape and the ecological interactions between hard-shelled molluscs, their predators, and the environment.
Rachel received her B.A. in Biology from Swarthmore College where she worked with Rachel Merz studying worm burrowing and distribution in the muddy intertidal zone. She then worked as the lab manager in Sheila Patek’s lab at Duke University examining the behavioral strategies that mantis shrimp use when hammering open hard-shelled prey -
William Taylor Gough
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2017
BioThe margin between life and death is defined by an animal’s ability to navigate its environment and find food. For his PhD thesis work, Will Gough has been using biologging tags to study how locomotion and feeding kinematics scale with body size up to and including whales - the largest animals that have ever lived. Insights from this work will help us understand how these species move within and reacts to their local environment and give us a more complete picture of their physiology and energetic demands. As we move forward into the Anthropocene, these answers could help us develop more robust science-based policy to protect and conserve our ocean ecosystem.
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Richard Grewelle
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2016
BioRichard Grewelle is a current PhD student motivated to understand ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of wildlife disease systems. Prior research areas involve bioinformatics, phylogenetics, and disease ecology. Although with previous experience in terrestrial diseases, including Y. pestis (plague), Richard pursues marine disease ecology due to the lack of knowledge surrounding systems we hardly encounter. Marine diseases present significant challenges to not only biologists; they may devastate fragile ecosystems supporting fisheries or providing ecological services. Richard works to bridge the gap between theoretical and empirical studies, employing population and genetic data to inform theoretical models of disease transmission. Despite the economic significance of this research, conservation of marine species and basic biological understanding are at its heart.
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Avery Hill
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2017
BioI am a PhD student in the lab of Prof. Chris Field. My academic interests include vegetation biogeography and spatial ecology, particularly in the context of the Anthropocene. During my B.S. at Cornell University I studied general biology and botany, and worked in the plant systematics lab of Prof. Kevin Nixon. Most of my work has focused on the vegetation of the Sierra Nevada, and I know the area well due to both field work and recreation. My extracurricular interests include literature, historical materialism, iOS app development, and the playing of various stringed instruments.
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Elora H. López-Nandam
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2015
BioElora López-Nandam is a Ph.D. candidate in Biology at Stanford University. She uses genomics to address questions about the ecology, evolution, and conservation of marine life. Her research spans a wide range of topics, including coral bleaching recovery in American Samoa, somatic mutations in very long-lived organisms, and the effects of nuclear radiation on wildlife at Bikini Atoll, a former nuclear testing site in the Marshall Islands.
López-Nandam's first research expedition to Bikini Atoll was featured on the PBS documentary series Big Pacific in June 2017. Her research projects have also been featured in USA Today, The Atlantic, The Guardian, and Hakai Magazine.
López-Nandam is a National Geographic Early Career Explorer, an Explorers Club Rolex Explorer, a Stanford Graduate Fellow in Science & Engineering, and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow. -
Tyler McFadden
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2016
BioI am interested in how ecological communities respond to global environmental change, and through my research I seek to identify concrete solutions for conserving biodiversity in human-dominated landscapes. In my dissertation research, I use a combination of field surveys, radio-telemetry, and network modeling to inform bird and plant-pollinator community conservation within Chilean timber plantations. Recently I have also started analyzing long-term bird population trends in California, drawing on 30 years of survey data collected at the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. I am passionate about environmental education at all levels and co-teach an undergraduate Ornithology class (BIO 121/221) and co-direct an afterschool outdoor education program for high school English Language Learners (www.meroscience.org).
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Jordana Meyer
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2017
BioMy research focuses on understanding how ecological networks are rewiring in the Anthropocene. Starting local at the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, I have been exploring noninvasive DNA metabarcoding methods to capture the biodiversity of the area, identifying key species, and construct an ecological network (food web) to reveal patterns of trophic interactions and community structure, allowing for predictive impacts of shifting community dynamics. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, I scaled this model to study how the hybridization of one of the largest ecosystem engineers, the Savanna - Forest elephant, is impacting the ecological network through assessing diet and habitat use, the health of individuals (microbiome, parasites & stress), and the ecological structure of Garamba National Park. Hybridization can result in novel ecological interactions, which in turn can trigger a cascade of processes with ecological and evolutionary outcomes. I am working in collaboration with African Parks, an NGO working in protected areas across the African continent, to address these questions. My long-term research goals focus on improving rewilding efforts and landscape-scale ecosystem services by applying conservation genomic techniques and network theory.
Before joining the Hadly Lab, I worked as a behavioral endocrinologist focusing on the reproductive success and management of the African elephant and the black rhino. I co-founded Wildtrax Explorations, a suite of programs offering educational and volunteer opportunities in Africa to help train the next generation of conservationists. -
Maike Morrison
Ph.D. Student in Biology, admitted Autumn 2020
BioI am a PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology interested in research questions involving evolutionary genetics, statistics, and infectious disease dynamics.
