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, Ecology, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. She is one of 184 scientists worldwide on the list of highly cited researchers in the field of environment / ecology. Rachael’s research has also been featured in the popular media such as Nature (commentary), Science (Perspectives), Audubon magazine, and National Public Radio (NPR). Rachael received her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2001 and her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1990.

Rachael serves on the Board of Directors of the Xerces Society.

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POSTDOCS

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.

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GRADUATE STUDENTS

Colleen Smith

Colleen Smith is a fifth-year Ph.D student, funded by a Rutgers Presidential Fellowship. Colleen is interested in understanding how species’ life-history traits and the environment interact to influence patterns of biodiversity, including interactions between plants and pollinators. She received her undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan in 2013.

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Michael Roswell

Michael Roswell is a fifth-year Ph.D student funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Rutgers Excellence Fellowship. Michael is interested in how the specifics of plant-pollinator interactions inform both ecological networks, and restoration and management. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 2011 with majors in Biology and Linguistics.

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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.

Casey Hamilton

Casey recently graduated from Rutgers, where he was an undergraduate researcher in the lab, funded by an NSF REU Supplement Grant. He is interested in how forest cover and fragmentation affect bee abundance and pollination provided to wildflowers. He will give a talk on his research at the Ecological Society of America meeting in Louisville, KY in August 2019.

Kiara Londono

Kiara is a senior at Rutgers and an undergraduate researcher in the lab, funded by an NSF REU Supplement Grant. She is interested in how bee abundance, richness, and foraging behavior affect plant reproduction. She will present a poster on her research for the Ecological Society of America meeting in Louisville, KY in August 2019.

Alex Matthews

Alex is a senior at Rutgers and an undergraduate researcher in the lab, funded by an NSF REU Supplement Grant. She is interested in plant-pollinator interactions and conservation. She will present a poster on her research for the Ecological Society of America meeting in Louisville, KY in August 2019.

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 Williams Lab at the University of California, Davis    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

• 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 Williams 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
• Sean Griffin, MS 2015 – PhD student in the Haddad Lab at North Carolina State University website / Google Scholar

LAB ALUMNI/AE – UNDERGRADUATES

• Rosy Tucker ‘17, Research technician, University of Minnesota
• 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