Stanford University
Showing 401-450 of 6,036 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. -
Noah Benjamin-Pollak
Ph.D. Student in Management Science and Engineering, admitted Autumn 2022
BioNoah Benjamin-Pollak (noahabp@stanford.edu) is a PhD candidate in Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University. He is a member of the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization (WTO). His research focuses on how different professions interact, particularly how authority and expertise are utilized in cross-occupational contexts. His current research uses ethnographic methods to understand cross-occupational collaboration between engineers and traditional business employees. Additionally, he is focused on understanding how expertise and expert authority are built and communicated between experts and non-expert audiences.
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Samantha Bents
Ph.D. Student in Environment and Resources, admitted Autumn 2024
BioSamantha Bents (she/her/hers) is an E-IPER PhD student interested in studying the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases across changing temporal and spatial scales. She plans to investigate how these dynamics can be leveraged to design public health interventions targeting inequities in both the built and natural environment. Prior to beginning her PhD, she was a researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and Fogarty International Center (FIC) NIH where her work focused on predictive disease modeling. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a concentration in Global Health and Health Policy.
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Brandon Bergsneider
MD Student with Scholarly Concentration in Informatics & Data-Driven Medicine / Immunology, expected graduation Spring 2026
BioBrandon Hwa-Lin Bergsneider, from Los Angeles, CA, is pursuing an MD at Stanford School of Medicine. Brandon earned a bachelor of science in human biology from Stanford, and a MSc in bioinformatics and theoretical systems biology from Imperial College London. Brandon aspires to use data science-based technologies to advance health equity through early diagnosis, democratizing health information, and improving treatment efficacy. At Stanford and Imperial, he researched the molecular bases of neurodegeneration, the genetic susceptibility of neuroblastoma patients to SARS-CoV-2, computational protein structure prediction, and using machine learning to identify chemotherapy-resistant cancer cells. Brandon has also worked at the National Institutes of Health, where he used computational network analysis to identify clinical and demographic determinants of brain tumor patient symptom burden. Brandon has multiple first-author publications and, outside of academics, enjoys volunteering as a surf-therapy instructor for military veterans. He is a Knight-Hennessy Scholar, a Fulbright Scholar, and an NIH Cancer Research Training Award Fellow.
