PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Dr. Rachael Winfree
Rachael Winfree is a Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. In her work she uses her training as a community ecologist to develop novel and quantitatively rigorous approaches to answering ecological questions at larger (landscape to regional) scales. Her current research interests 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. Every year since 2015, she has been 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 serves on the board of directors of the Xerces Society. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2001 and her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1990.
POSTDOCS
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’s lab at the University of Louisiana.
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 third-year Ph.D student funded by Rutgers Presidential and EOAS Fellowships. She graduated from Columbia University in 2014 with a major in Environmental Biology.
Dylan Simpson
Dylan is a second-year PhD student supported by Rutgers Excellence and EOAS Fellowships. Dylan is interested in the intersections of biodiversity, community composition, and ecosystem function, especially in the contexts of conservation and land-use change. He holds a BS in environmental science and an MS in biology.
Andrew Aldercotte
Andrew is a first-year Ph.D student supported by Rutgers Excellence and EOAS Fellowships. He is interested in community ecology, particularly in inter-trophic interactions and drivers of biodiversity. Andrew recently completed an MSc in Forestry at Bangor University in the UK, doing his field work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, and has a BA in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz.
Max McCarthy
Max is a first-year Ph.D student interested in studying floral resource use by bees and applying this information to conservation. He graduated from Tufts University, where he was a Barry Goldwater Scholar and majored in Biology and Environmental Studies, in 2020.
UNDERGRADUATES
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.
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 Faculty researcher at EBD-CSIC (Doñana Biological Station), Seville, funded by a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship Award Google Scholar
- Geetha Nayak was a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab in 2011-2012
- Romina Rader is a 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 California, Davis 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 – PhD student in the Haddad Lab at Michigan State University 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
HONORARY LAB MEMBERS (Born to parents in the Winfree Lab)
Gavin Genung (dad Mark Genung, postdoc)
Isabelle Socolar (mom Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar, Ph.D student)
Zelda Keitel and Max Keitel (mom Faye Benjamin, Ph.D student)
Violeta Bartomeus (dad Nacho Bartomeus, postdoc)
Sophia Budny (mom Rachael Winfree, PI)
