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Menge Lab People

DM picture
Duncan Menge
Associate Professor

Research and teaching interests: Ecosystem ecology, theoretical ecology, biogeochemistry, evolutionary ecology, global change science, plain old ecology.

Contact: dm2972[at]columbia[dot]edu, (212) 854-6889, @DuncanMenge
Eva Arroyo Eva Arroyo
Ph.D. student
eea2140[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: In my PhD at Columbia, co-advised by Duncan Menge and Maria Uriarte, I think about within-species variation and how it affects community ecology. My current thinking is about species rarity. In the past, I have worked on lianas at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and rumor-spread models at Duke. My background is in theoretical math and I (really) love probability and complex systems theory. I am currently a Teaching Fellow at Columbia where I teach a class entitled "Explaining Biodiversity: Niches, Complex Systems, Chaos, and Neutral Theory."
Aria Carreras Pereira Aria Carreras Pereira
Ph.D. student
kac2252[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: I am broadly interested in mycorrhizal networks, forest ecology, biogeochemistry, ethnobotany, succession and climate change. My research is motivated by the principal question of "how do trees, both as individuals and in a forest community, use a mycelial network to communicate?" Within that question, I focus on nutrient transfer between trees via these networks.
Savannah Cooley Savannah Cooley
Ph.D. student
sc4751[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: My research stems from my personal and professional mission of playing a role in mitigating climate change. I focus on ecosystem regeneration dynamics at landscape and global scales. In particular, I am interested in characterizing how forest regeneration can influence ecosystem-atmosphere exchanges of water, carbon, nitrogen and trace greenhouse gases. To investigate these dynamics, I use a transdisciplinary toolset suitable for addressing complex socio-ecological challenges that includes remote sensing data sets, Bayesian statistics, co-production approaches integrating local knowledge and indigenous perspectives, field observations and process-based theoretical modeling. CV
Ayanna pic Ayanna Butler
Ph.D. student
ab5203[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research Interests: I am broadly interested in the effects of extreme disturbances on nitrogen losses and cycling. I specifically look at the losses and cycling within the stream-soil interface. One of the goals of my work is to increase social justice and resource equity amongst BIPOC affected by disturbances and major events.
Patrick pic Patrick Cito Namulisa
Ph.D. student
pcn2115[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: I am broadly interested in carbon and nitrogen dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems under changing climate, and other global change drivers including warming and elevated CO2.
Jessie pic Jessie Motes
Ph.D. student
jim2137[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: As an ecosystem ecologist, my research interests include plant-soil-microbe interactions and both theoretical and empirical biogeochemical cycling. Specifically, my dissertation is focusing on the impacts of climate change on nitrogen cycling and vegetation dynamics across scales in the arctic tundra.
Isobel pic Isobel Mifsud
Ph.D. student
im2501[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: I am broadly interested in insect ecology and how invertebrates contribute to ecosystem functioning. More specifically, I study how insects mediate nutrient cycling, and how climate change and other anthropogenic stressors are impacting these pathways. I hope that my work will contribute to our understanding of the importance of conserving insect populations.
Vanessa pic Vanessa Lau
M.A. student
vml2135[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research Interests: Broadly, I am interested in biogeochemical cycling and plant ecology. My current research involves investigating the feedback loop between climate change and the nitrogen cycle. How does global change due to anthropogenic emissions affect nitrogen availability? As nutrient availability shifts, how does associated plant growth mitigate climate change?
Nico pic Nico Crosson
M.A. student
nac2222[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: I am a biogeochemist who is interested in investigating the impact of climate and land-use changes on the cycling of elements and nutrients in forests and soils, and conversely, how alterations to these biogeochemical cycles can result in global and regional climatic changes. My primary focus is on the cycling of carbon and nitrogen between their geologic, biologic, and atmospheric reservoirs. I am currently investigating soil greenhouse gas emissions associated with the thawing of Arctic permafrost.
Savannah Kjaer Picture Savannah Kjaer
Technician
sjk2257[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: I am interested in global change ecology, specifically ecosystem responses to climate change variables, such as warming and increased nutrient availability. I am currently monitoring terrestrial experiments in the arctic tundra for the Long-Term Ecological Research network.
Alex pic Alex Nobert
Technician
an3370[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: I am broadly interested in how biology drives biogeochemical cycling and how changing climate regimes will affect these systems. I am currently studying the effect of temperature on root nodule nitrogen fixation rates as well as net respiration.
PA pic Palani Akana
Frontiers of Science Fellow/Postdoc
pra2116[at]columbia[dot]edu

Research interests: My research examines the role of trees in cycling nutrients through ecosystems. My work has included projects on spatial patterns of soil nutrient availability, species differences in coarse root architecture, rain-mediated nutrient export from rainforest canopies, and the regulation of symbiotic nitrogen fixation by temperature, light, and nutrient availability.
Placeholder pic Lab Alumni
Amy Wolf Amelia Wolf
Postdoc 2015-2018
Assistant Professor, UT Austin
amywolf[at]gmail[dot]com
Ben Taylor Benton Taylor
Ph.D. 2018
Assistant Professor, Harvard
Formerly Postdoc, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center
bentonneiltaylor[at]gmail[dot]com
TB pic Thomas Bytnerowicz
Ph.D. 2020
Stengl-Wyer Postdoc, UT Austin
tbytnero[at]gmail[dot]com
AQ pic Andrew Quebbeman
Ph.D. 2021
Data Analyst, The Farmer's Dog
andrew.quebbeman[at]gmail[dot]com
SKG pic Sian Kou-Giesbrecht
Ph.D. 2021
Assistant Professor, Dalhousie
Formerly Postdoc, Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis
sian.kougiesbrecht[at]gmail[dot]com
APS pic Anika Staccone
Ph.D. 2021
Applied Scientist, Earthshot Labs
Formerly NSF Innovative Postdoctoral Entrepreneurial Fellow, Lead System Scientist at Lotic Labs
anika.petach[at]gmail[dot]com
AH pic Alex Huddell
Ph.D. 2021
Assistant Professor, U Delaware
Formerly Postdoctoral Fellow, U Maryland
Formerly ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow, EPA
alex.huddell[at]gmail[dot]com
PA pic Palani Akana
Ph.D. 2022
Columbia Science Fellow
Formerly Instructor, Columbia, NYU, and Stanford
pra2116[at]columbia[dot]edu
Wenying Liao Wenying Liao
M.A. 2015
Sequoia Climate Foundation
Formerly Postdoc, Harvard; Ph.D. student, Princeton
wenyinglpu[at]gmail[dot]com
Emily Jager Emily Jager
M.A. 2019
NYC Parks Department and Walking Palms Global Health
eaj2145[at]columbia[dot]edu
Lex Helms Alexa Helms
M.A. 2020
US Forest Service
ah3597[at]columbia[dot]edu
IM pic Isobel Mifsud
M.A. 2021
Ph.D. student (see above)
im2501[at]columbia[dot]edu
Emma Lauterbach Emma Lauterbach
M.A. 2023
el3133[at]columbia[dot]edu
Megan Wilcots Megan Wilcots
B.S. 2018
Postdoc, Harvard University
Formerly Ph.D. student, University of Minnesota
mew2210[at]columbia[dot]edu
Colleen Schmidt Colleen Schmidt
B.S. 2020
cbs2166[at]columbia[dot]edu
Placeholder pic Tamia Lewis
B.S. 2024
Placeholder pic Sonja Benjamins-Carey
B.S. 2024
Placeholder pic Jocelyn Fahlen
B.S. 2024

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Menge Lab, E3B department, Columbia University
dm2972[at]columbia[dot]edu
, (212) 854-6889
10th floor, Schermerhorn Extension
1200 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY, 10027

Columbia University