PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Rachael Winfree

Rachael Winfree is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. The goal of her work is to better understand the causes and consequences of biodiversity, particularly in real-world settings and at large spatial scales. Current projects in her research group include (1) the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services, (2) biodiversity measurement, (3) plant-pollinator networks, and (4) pollinator conservation and restoration. Her work has been funded primarily by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and has been published in leading scientific journals including Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Ecology Letters, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. From 2015-2019 she was one of approximately 170 scientists worldwide (and one of approximately 20 women) on the list of highly cited researchers in the field of environment / ecology. Rachael is a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America and serves on the board of directors of the Xerces Society, which has the largest pollinator conservation effort of any nonprofit. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2001 and her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1990.

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POSTDOCS

Dr. Natalie Lemanski

Natalie is a theoretical ecologist and mathematical modeler who has worked extensively on social insects. Her work in the lab involves analysis of datasets on bee-plant interactions to explore questions about biodiversity, phenology, and ecosystem function. Natalie obtained her Ph.D from Rutgers, and completed two previous postdoctoral positions, at University of Tennessee and UCLA.  CV

Dr. Tina Harrison

 

Tina is working with Dr. Mark Genung and Rachael on biodiversity-ecosystem function analysis using the Price equation. Tina is based in Mark Genung’s lab at the University of Louisiana.  Google Scholar

RESEARCH ASSOCIATES

Dr. James Reilly

James is an ecological modeler who develops and analyzes mathematical and statistical models in collaboration with various members of the lab. James received his Ph.D from Cornell University in 2009.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Lucia Weinman

Lucia Weinman is a fourth-year Ph.D student funded by Rutgers Presidential and EOAS Fellowships. She graduated from Columbia University in 2014 with a major in Environmental Biology.

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Aaron Scheiner

Aaron is a sophomore in the Honors College at Rutgers and a double major in mathematics and computer science. He is working with Dylan Simpson on modeling North American firefly distributions and biodiversity, in collaboration with the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

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LAB ALUMNI/AE – POSTDOCS

• Mark Genung is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at University of Louisiana     Google Scholar
• Tina Harrison is a postdoc in the Genung Lab at University of Louisiana  Google Scholar
• Dan Cariveau is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Entomology at the University of Minnesota     Google Scholar
• Ignasi (Nacho) Bartomeus is a tenured researcher at EBD-CSIC (Doñana Biological Station), Seville    Google Scholar
• Geetha Nayak was a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab in 2011-2012
• Romina Rader is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Management at the University of New England, Australia    Google Scholar

LAB ALUMNI/AE – GRADUATE STUDENTS

• Colleen Smith, Ph.D 2020 – Postdoc in Forrest Lab at University of Ottawa
• Michael Roswell, Ph.D 2020 – Postdoc at University of California, Davis and SESYNC
• Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar, Ph.D 2018 – Postdoc in the Cariveau Lab at the University of Minnesota   web site / Google Scholar
• Tina Harrison, Ph.D 2016 – Postdoc in the Genung Lab at the University of Louisiana  Google Scholar
• Faye Benjamin, Ph.D 2015 – Adjunct Professor, Hofstra University Google Scholar
• Molly MacLeod, Ph.D. 2015 – Senior Manager in Science Content, Pfizer Inc.
• Sean Griffin, MS 2015 – Postdoc in the Jha Lab at University of Texas, Austin website / Google Scholar

LAB ALUMNI/AE – UNDERGRADUATES

• Casey Hamilton, ’19, MS student, Penn State University
• Rosy Tucker ‘17, Graduate School of Education, University of Virginia
• Joe Zientek ’16, Lab manager, Oakland University
• Kurtis Himmler ’16, MS student in Biology, Loyola University
• Tiffany Bennett ’16, Forester, Gracie and Harrigan Consulting
• Hinal Patel ’15, MD student, Drexel College of Medicine
• Abigail Cohen ’14, Ph.D student, University of Washington
• Bridget Johnson ’13, Peace Corps, Paraguay
• Samantha Hauser ’11, Postdoc at University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee