Columbia University Home GSAS Home
Dean's Office | Academic Programs | Prospective Students | Current Students | Alumni
Academic Programs
All Programs
M.A. Programs
Ph.D. Programs
Liberal Studies Programs
Dual Degree Program
Non-Degree Programs
Dissertation Sponsors
Other Information
Information About this Department
List of Faculty
Dissertation Sponsors
Degree Requirements
Apply Online
Visit the Department's Website

Doctoral Program Subcommittee on Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology


Degree Programs: Full-Time: M.A./M.Phil./Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; M.A./M.Phil./Ph.D. in Evolutionary Primatology;Full-Time/Part-Time: Free-Standing M.A. in Conservation Biology

Certificate Programs: Certificate in Conservation Biology, Certificate in Environmental Policy

Chair: Shahid Naeem, Ph.D.
Schermerhorn Ext. 10th Floor
Tel: 212.854.4499


Director of Graduate Studies: Eleanor Sterling, Ph.D.
Schermerhorn Ext. 10th Floor
Tel: 212.854.9987


Environmental Policy Certificate Adviser: Steve Cohen, Ph.D., Dr.P.H.
1314 International Affairs Building
Tel: 212.854.4445


Dissertation Sponsors

Alonso Aguirre:
Adjunct Professor (Wildlife Trust), Ph.D., Colorado State, 1990
Interests: Conservation medicine, international field wildlife veterinary medicine, ecosystem health, wildlife forensics, wildlife anesthesia, wildlife restraint, marine mammals, marine turtles, wildlife diseases
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
George Amato:
Adjunct Associate Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Yale, 1994
Interests: Conservation biology, molecular systematics
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Philip Ammirato:
Adjunct Associate Professor (Barnard), Ph.D., Fordham, 1989
Interests: Conservation biology; captive breeding, environmental education
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Andrew Baker:
Adjunct Assistant Professor (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Miami, 1999
Interests: Coral reef ecology, molecular systematics, marine biology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Michael Balick:
Adjunct Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Harvard, 1980
Interests: Economic botany, ethnobotany, palm systematics
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Walter J. Bock:
Professor (Evolutionary Biology, Biological Sciences), Ph.D., Harvard, 1959
Interests: General evolutionary theory;Evolutionary systemics, taxonomy, biological adaptation
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Brian Boom:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., CUNY, 1983
Interests: Systematic botany, economic botany, ethnobotany, neotropical forest inventories, Rubiaceae
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Nora Bynum:
Adjunct Assistant Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Yale, 1995
Interests: Conservation biology, phenology, global change
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Hilary Callahan:
Assistant Professor (Barnard), Ph.D., Wisconsin (Madison), 1996
Interests: Changing environments, ecological genetics, microevolution, natural selection, phenotypic plasticity, plant reproductive ecology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Kenneth Cameron:
Adjunct Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., North Carolina (Chapel Hill), 1996
Interests: Orchidaceae, Smilacaceae, Malpighiaceae, Cactaceae, carnivorous plants, molecular systematics, genomics
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
James Carpenter:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Cornell, 1983
Interests: Cladistics, phylogeny, taxonomy, behavior, Hymenoptera, Vespidae
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Joel Cohen:
Professor (International and Public Affairs), Ph.D., Harvard, 1973
Interests: Demography, ecology, population genetics, epidemiology, social organization
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Steve Cohen:
Professor, Ph.D., Dr.P.H., Harvard, 1970, 1973
Interests: demography, ecology, population genetics, epidemiology, social organization
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Marina Cords:
Professor (Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology), Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1984
Interests: Biological anthropology; primate social organization; behavioral ecology; behavior, behavioral ecology, ethology, ecology, socioecology, primatology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Peter Daszak:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Trust), Ph.D., East London (UK), 1993
Interests: Conservation medicine, wildlife
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Rob DeSalle:
Adjunct Associate Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Washington, 1984
Interests: Molecular evolution, conservation genetics, molecular systematics, genomics and developmental biology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Darrel Frost:
Adjunct Associate Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Kansas, 1988
Interests: Comparative anatomy, taxonomy, phylogenetic inference, biogeography, and general natural history of reptiles and amphibians
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
James Gibbs:
Adjunct Assistant Professor (CERC), Ph.D., Yale, 1995
Interests: Conservation biology, wildlife management, conservation education
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Joshua Ginsberg:
Adjunct Professor (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Princeton, 1988
Interests: Conservation biology, mammalogy, conservation policy
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
John Glendinning:
Associate Professor (Barnard), Ph.D.
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Rosemarie Gnam:
Adjunct Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., CUNY, 1991
Interests: Conservation Biology, Ornithology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Kevin L. Griffin:
( Plant Ecophysiology ) Associate Professor (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Ph.D., Duke, 1994
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
David Grimaldi:
Adjunct Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Cornell, 1986
Interests: Systematics and evolution of insects
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Jeffrey Groth:
Adjunct Associate Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., California (Berkeley), 1980
Interests: Ornithology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Roy Halling:
Adjunct Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Massachusetts, 1980
Interests: Macrofungal systematics, ecology, biogeography
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Ian Harrison:
Adjunct Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D.
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Paul Hertz:
Professor (Barnard), Ph.D., Harvard, 1977
Interests: Animal physiological ecology and evolution, reptile ecology and behavior, and herpetology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Ernesto Enkerlin Hoeflich:
Adjunct Research Scientist (Wildlife Trust)
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Ralph L. Holloway:
Professor (Anthropology), Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1964
Interests: Physical anthropology; evolution of brain and behavior; paleoanthropology;comparative primate psychology and aggression, ethology, evolutionary biology, paleoneurology, hominid paleontology, neural biological variability, sexual dimorphism, and allometry
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Darcy B. Kelley:
Professor (Neurobiology), Ph.D., Rockefeller, 1975
Interests: Sexual differentiation of neurons and muscle;Neural systems and behavior, hormonal effects, sexual differentiation
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Austin Marmaduke Kilpatrick:
Adjunct Associate Professor (Wildlife Trust), Ph.D., Wisconsin (Madison), 2003
Interests: Population ecology, modeling, disease ecology, West Nile virus
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Fredi Kronenberg:
Professor (Clinical Physiology), Ph.D., Stanford, 1979
Interests: Rehabilitation medicine
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Ross MacPhee:
Adjunct Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Alberta, 1977
Interests: Mammalian systematics, island biogeography
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Rodrigo Medellin:
Adjunct Associate Research Scientist (Wildlife Trust), Ph.D., Florida, 1992
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Don J. Melnick:
Professor (Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology), Ph.D., Yale
Interests: Genetic structures of primates, dynamics of genetic change, molecular phylogenies and date cladogenic events; Population genetics, molecular evolution and conservation
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Juan Carlos Morales:
Associate Research Scientist (CERC), Ph.D., Wildlife Texas A&M, 1992
Interests: Mammalogy, systematics, biogeography, population genetics, resource conservation
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Scott Mori:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Wisconsin (Madison), 1974
Interests: Neotropical plant systematics, plant/animal interactions, bat/plant interactions
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Brian Morton:
Assistant Professor (Barnard), Ph.D., UC Riverside, 1993
Interests: Codon bias, context dependency, molecular evolution
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Timothy Motley:
Adjunct Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Hawaii, 1996
Interests: Plant systematics, island biogeography, hybridization, population genetics, reproductive biology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Shahid Naeem:
Professor (Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology), Ph.D., University of California (Berkeley), 1989
Interests: Biodiversity, population biology, community ecology, ecosystem ecology, invasions, global change
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Scott Newman:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., UC Davis, 1998
Interests: Wildlife disease, contaminants, epizootiology, conservation medicine
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Michael Novacek:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1978
Interests: Vertebrate palaentology, mammalian systematics
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Paul E. Olsen:
( Paleontology ) Arthur D. Storke Memorial Professor;Professor (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Ph.D., Yale, 1983
Interests: Paleoecology; ecosystem evolution; vertebrate paleontology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Christine Padoch:
Adjunct Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Columbia, 1978
Interests: Agroecology, human ecology and resource use
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Claudio Padua:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Trust), Ph.D., Florida, 1993
Interests: Conservation biology, mammalogy resource use
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Cheryl Palm:
Senior Research Scientist (Earth Institute)
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Mary Pearl:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Trust), Ph.D., Yale, 1982
Interests: Conservation biology, conservation policy, environmental education
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Dorothy M. Peteet:
( Paleoecology ) Lecturer;Scientist/Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Lamont-Doherty), Ph.D., New York University, 1983
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Charles Peters:
Adjunct Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Yale, 1986
Interests: agroecology, human ecology and resource use
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Miguel Pinedo-Vásquez:
Associate Research Scientist (CERC), Ph.D., Yale, 1995
Interests: Plant ecology, resource development, conservation biology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Norman Platnick:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Harvard, 1973
Interests: Spiders, Araneae, biogeography, biodiversity
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Jeanne S. Poindexter:
Associate Professor (Barnard), Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1963
Interests: Microbiology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Robert E. Pollack:
Professor (Biological Sciences), Ph.D., Brandeis, 1966
Interests: Critical analysis of the recent past and immediate future of molecular medicine;Genetics and disease; molecular evolution
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Christopher Raxworthy:
Adjunct Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Open, 1989
Interests: Conservation biology, ecology, tropical ecology, herpetology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Kent Redford:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Harvard, 1987
Interests: Conservation biology, mammalogy
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Diana Reiss:
Adjunct Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Temple, 1983
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
John Robinson:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., North Carolina, 1977
Interests: Conservation biology, neotropical primate behavior
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Robert Rockwell:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Queen's, 1975
Interests: Ecology, population biology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Howard C. Rosenbaum:
Adjunct Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Yale, 1999
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Pedro Sanchez:
Senior Research Scientist (Earth Institute), PhD, Cornell, 1986
Interests: Management of tropical soils through integrated natural resource management approaches
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Eric Sanderson:
Adjunct Associate Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., UC Davis, 1998
Interests: Ecology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Scott Schaeffer:
Adjunct Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Chicago, 1986
Interests: Fish, tropics, systematics, biogeography, morphology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Randall Schuh:
Adjunct Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Connecticut, 1971
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
William Schuster:
Executive Director of Black Rock Forest Consortium (CERC), Ph.D., Colorado, 1989
Interests: Ecology, forest ecology, carbon cycling, environmental change, ecological genetics, ecosystem health
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Christine Sheppard:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Cornell, 1977
Interests: Conservation biology, ornithology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Mark Siddall:
Adjunct Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Toronto, 1994
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Scott Silver:
Adjunct Associate Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Fordham, 1997
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Nancy Simmons:
Adjunct Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 1989
Interests: Mammology, systematics, conservation of New World microchiropterans
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
John Steven Sparks:
Adjunct Associate Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), 2001
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Sacha Spector:
Adjunct Assistant Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Connecticut, 2001
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Eleanor Sterling:
Adjunct Professor, Director, Center for Biodiversity Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History, Ph.D., Yale, 1993
Interests: Conservation Biology, Mammals
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Dennis Stevenson:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., California (Davis), 1975
Interests: Plant systematics, plant physiology
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Melanie Stiassny:
Adjunct Professor (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., London, 1980
Interests: Systematics, conservation of paleotropical freshwater fishes
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
William Wayt Thomas:
Adjunct Associate Professor (The New York Botanical Garden), Ph.D., Michigan, 1982
Interests: Tropical plant systematics
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
John Thorbjarnarson:
Adjunct Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Florida, 1991
Interests: Systematics and conservation of crocodilians
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Maria Uriarte:
Assistant Professor (Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology), Ph.D., Cornell, 2001
Interests: Game-theory models of community assembly, dynamics of tropical forests, plant community structure
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Robert Voss:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Michigan, 1983
Interests: Systematics and evolution of new world rodents
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Paige West:
Assistant Professor (Anthropology, Barnard College), PhD, Rutgers University, 2000
Interests: Cultural and environmental anthropology, relationship between conservation and development and the imagination and the environment, social and environmental consequences of conservation and the production of nature and culture; Linkages between environmental conservation and international development, and environmental ethics;Anthropology, political ecology, Melanesi
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Dan Wharton:
Adjunct Research Scientist (Wildlife Conservation Society), Ph.D., Fordham, 1989
Interests: Conservation biology, captive breeding
Approved Dissertation Sponsor
Ward Wheeler:
Adjunct Senior Research Scientist (American Museum of Natural History), Ph.D., Harvard, 1988
Interests: Molecular systematics, arthropod evolution
Approved Dissertation Sponsor




SITE MAP  |  GSAS HOME  |  CU HOME  |  CONTACT US