Home   People   Research   Publications   Opportunities   Teaching   Links

	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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.
	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.
	Lab Alumni
	Amelia Wolf Postdoc 2015-2018 Assistant Professor, UT Austin amywolf[at]gmail[dot]com
	Benton Taylor Ph.D. 2018 Assistant Professor, Harvard Formerly Postdoc, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center bentonneiltaylor[at]gmail[dot]com
	Thomas Bytnerowicz Ph.D. 2020 Stengl-Wyer Postdoc, UT Austin tbytnero[at]gmail[dot]com
	Andrew Quebbeman Ph.D. 2021 Data Analyst, The Farmer's Dog andrew.quebbeman[at]gmail[dot]com
	Sian Kou-Giesbrecht Ph.D. 2021 Assistant Professor, Dalhousie Formerly Postdoc, Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis sian.kougiesbrecht[at]gmail[dot]com
	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
	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
	Palani Akana Ph.D. 2022 Columbia Science Fellow Formerly Instructor, Columbia, NYU, and Stanford pra2116[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Wenying Liao M.A. 2015 Sequoia Climate Foundation Formerly Postdoc, Harvard; Ph.D. student, Princeton wenyinglpu[at]gmail[dot]com
	Emily Jager M.A. 2019 NYC Parks Department and Walking Palms Global Health eaj2145[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Alexa Helms M.A. 2020 US Forest Service ah3597[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Isobel Mifsud M.A. 2021 Ph.D. student (see above) im2501[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Emma Lauterbach M.A. 2023 el3133[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Megan Wilcots B.S. 2018 Postdoc, Harvard University Formerly Ph.D. student, University of Minnesota mew2210[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Colleen Schmidt B.S. 2020 cbs2166[at]columbia[dot]edu
	Tamia Lewis B.S. 2024
	Sonja Benjamins-Carey B.S. 2024
	Jocelyn Fahlen B.S. 2024

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