RUBENSTEIN LAB

integrative organismal biology in a changing world

MEET THE TEAM

Superb starling family

principal investigator

Dustin Rubenstein, Professor

Dustin’s research spans molecules to populations, from invertebrates to vertebrates, and across levels of analysis, scales of biological organization, and the globe. He takes an integrative approach to understand why complex animal societies form and how organisms cope with environmental change through studies that combine behavior, ecology, and evolution with those of the underlying molecular, neural, and neuroendocrine mechanisms.

CV BIO Google Scholar

postdocs

Stefanie Siller Wilks ’22 - 25

Columbia Frontiers of Science Fellow

WEBPAGE

Stefanie Lecturer and Frontiers of Science Fellow teaching in Columbia’s Core Curriculum and loosely affiliated with the lab. During her PhD, she asked similar questions in birds, focusing on house sparrow populations from across the United States.

Irene Garcia Ruiz ’23 - 25

Swiss National Science Foundation Fellow

WEBPAGE

Irene is interested in the evolution of social behavior and cooperation. During her PhD, she investigated different direct and indirect fitness benefits that shape the evolution of cooperative breeding, using theoretical models and empirical research with a cichlid fish. For her postdoc, she will continue her research on the evolution of cooperation by exploring the phenomenon of task specialization in vertebrates and the role of reproductive conflict mediating sociality, in different environments. She will use a combination of theoretical models, comparative methods, and empirical research with superb starlings.

graduate students

Alexis Earl PhD ’19 -

WEBPAGE

Alexis is interested in the evolution of complex social behavior, communication, and cognition. For her MS she studied whether female ornamentation in Indian peafowl signals social status, and whether hormonal mechanisms link variation in ornamentation with status. For her PhD, she is using long-term data in starlings to investigate how the social and ecological environments influence individual trajectories of reproductive roles within complex social groups, as well as the subsequent impacts on group stability and structure.

research associates

Joseph Solomon

Lab Manager

Joe received his MA from Hunter College before joining the lab. He manages the lab in New York, overseeing students, helping with bioinformatics and data analysis, and all aspects of lab work.

Wilson Nderitu

Field Manager

Wilson has worked on the African starling project since 2001. He temporarily left in 2006 to complete his Diploma in Wildlife Management at the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute.

Elkana Korir

Field Assistant

Korir has worked on the African starling project since 2019. Previously he worked on the social weaver and guinea fowl projects at the Mpala Research Centre.

former lab members

postdocs

Patrick Kennedy ’21 - ’23

Marie Curie & Simons Foundation Fellow

Lecturer (Assistant Professor)

University of Bristol

WEBPAGE

Renata Mazzei ’19 - ’21

Swiss National Science Foundation Fellow

Postdoctoral Associate,

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières

Shana Caro ’17 - ’20

Simons Foundation Fellow

Assistant Professor, Adelphi University

Solomon Chak ’16 - ’19

Life Sciences Research Fellow

Assistant Professor, Denison University

WEBPAGE

Rafael Maia ’15 - ’18

Simons Foundation Fellow

Data Scientist, Apple Inc.

Katherine Brooks ’14 - ’17

Columbia Frontiers of Science Fellow

Collection Analysis Librarian,

Columbia University

Stephen Harris ’15 - ’16

Columbia Frontiers of Science Fellow

Assistant Professor, SUNY Purchase

Melissa Mark ’09 - ’12

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow

Director of Conservation Programming,

University of Washington

WEBPAGE

PhD students

Stefanie Siller PhD ’22

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Columbia Frontiers of Science Fellow

WEBPAGE

Shailee Shah PhD ’22

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University

WEBPAGE

Yi-Ru Cheng PhD ’21

Postdoctoral Associate, Academia Sinica

Jay Falk PhD ’20 (Cornell)

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow,

University of Colorado Boulder

WEBPAGE

Sarah Guindre-Parker

Sarah Guindre-Parker PhD ’17

NSERC Graduate Fellow

Assistant Professor, Kennesaw State University

WEBPAGE

MA students

Jerry Guan

Jerry Shuzhe Guan MA ’22

PhD student, Harvard University

WEBPAGE

Catherine Yung-Yi Lan MA ’21

MD student, Poznań Univ of Medical Sciences

Eleanor Diamant MA ’17

PhD, UCLA

Postdoctoral Fellow, Ben-Gurion University

WEBPAGE

Yuki Haba MA ’17

PhD, Princeton University

Postdoctoral Associate, Harvard University

WEBPAGE

Alyxandra Pikus MA ’17

Senior Program Manager,

Oxbridge Academic Programs

Natalie Hofmeister MA ’15

PhD, Cornell University

Michigan Society of Fellows, Univ Michigan

WEBPAGE

Rebecca Kelley MA ’13

PhD, New Mexico State University

Senior Data Scientist, Amazon

James Kealey MA ’12

Science teacher,

Richmond High School, Richmond CA

Kathleen Apakupakul MA ’12

Research Associate

Institute for Conservation Medicine,

Saint Louis Zoo

WEBPAGE

Sara Keen MA ’11

PhD, Cornell University

Senior Research Scientist, Earth Species Project

undergraduate thesis students

Arden Berlinger CC ’20

Science Research Fellow

PhD student, University of Cambridge

Hannah Skolnik CC ’15

Amgen Scholar

DVM, UC Davis

Resident Veterinarian, University of California San Francisco

Laura Booth

Laura Booth CC ’15

Tennessee Valley Biologist,

National Park Service

Lucia Weinman CC ’14

PhD, Rutgers University

Postdoctoral Scholar, UC Davis

WEBPAGE

Julia Pilowsky CC ’12

MA, Tufts University

PhD, University of Copenhagen

Postdoctoral Scientist, Cary Institute

WEBPAGE

Caitlin Dean CC ’12

JD, University of Michigan

Associate, Fish & Richardson

Lea Pollack CC ’12

Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow

PhD, UC Davis

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Minnesota

WEBPAGE

Jeremy Law CC ’11

MA, Columbia University

Certified Arborist/Natural Resources Specialist, AKRF

undergraduate interns

Eriifeoluwa Adelusimo CC ’22 (sTEAM Fellow)

Yutian Lin CC ’22 (sTEAM Fellow)

Ugochinyere Ndukwe CC ’22 (sTEAM Fellow)

Riley Smith CC ’22 (sTEAM Fellow)

Jacob Whitson GS ’22 (sTEAM Fellow)

Nicolas Beltran CC ’22 (sTEAM Fellow)

Sarah Marazzi-Sassoon BC ’22

Debbie Leung CC ’21

Faith Ajayi CC ’21 (Rabi Scholar)

Ona Jae Lee SEAS ’21

Shoshana Sernik GS ’20

Sophia Kislik BC ’20

Christian Eggers CC ’20

Jake Arlow BC ’19

Joseph Knee CC ’19

Kaiulani Sakaguchi CC ’19

Francesca Garofalo CC ’18

Tatini Mal-Sarkar CC ’17

Michael Spiotta GS ‘17

Karen Bao CC ’16

Fayme Cai CC ’16

Catherine Chen CC ’15

Brahadheeshwar Sundararaju CC ’15

Elora Lopez CC ’15

Nathen Huang CC ’14

Kerstin Nolan CC ’14

Sonalee Rau CC ’14

Madeline Cohen CC ’13

Heather D’Angelo GS ’12

Ben Eckersley CC ’13

Nathan Bailey CC’ 12

Jordan Hollarsmith CC ’12

Linnet Jessell (University of Kings College)

Suraj Nagaraj (UC Berkeley)

Brynn McCleery (Cornell University)

visiting faculty

Tim Greives (North Dakota State University)

research associates

Kaitlyn Gaynor (PhD UC Berkeley; Assistant Professor, UBC)

Paul Kiplangat

James Kiplangat

Joseph Mosiany

Godffrey Manyaas

John Mpaiyan

Silvio Lentutu

Gabriel Rana

Maina

James Ekiru

Stephen Muige

Julius Ronjore

post-baccalaureate interns

Tyler Davis (Cornell University)

Kaitlyn Gaynor (Columbia University)

Rebecca Harris (Cornell University)

Sarah Khalil (Cornell University)

Brynn McCleery (Cornell University)

Lea Pollack (Columbia University)

Stefanie Siller (Princeton University)

Gabrielle Welsh (University of Maryland)

high school interns

Zhaleh Mahootian (Bronx High School of Science ’20)

Hank Marriott (Ethical Culture Fieldston School ’20)

Livia Marchese (Briarcliff High School ’19)

Regina Hashim (home school student ’19)

Samuel Levy (Abram Joshua Heschel School ’18)

Rebecca Marcus (Mamaroneck High School ’18)

Myron Huang (Bronx High School of Science ’18)

Katherine Grygiercyzk (Valley Stream South High Sch ’17)

Gillian Carling (The Bronx High School of Science ’13)

visiting graduate students and postdocs

Rebecca Calisi (University of California, Berkeley)

Rafael Maia (University of Akron)

Daniel Meliza (University of Chicago)

Juan Rubalcaba (King Juan Carlos University)

RUBENSTEIN LAB

© 2002-2024 | Dustin R. Rubenstein