People

noa+poppy_fieldNoa Pinter-Wollman

Professor
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Los Angeles
nmpinter [at] ucla [dot] edu

Postdocs:

Emily Laub (2023 – )

Emily studies social group formation and the evolution of cooperation. Her current projects use social network analysis to investigate social partner assessment and nest foundation in paper wasps and examine how group formation is impacted by environmental factors. Emily completed her PhD at the University of Michigan, studying how cognition and personality impact cooperation in wasps. When not chasing around wasps, Emily enjoys traditional music and dance.

eclaub [at] ucla [dot] edu

Elvira D’Bastiani (2023 – )

Elvira studies the causes and consequences of the ecological and evolutionary dynamics  between species. Her current project involves using social network analysis to examine how spatial and social behavior combine to influence population-level processes (like disease transmission) in griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus). Previously, Elvira did a master’s and doctorate at UFPR (Universidade Federal do Paraná), where she studied the effect of host-switching on the ecological and evolutionary patterns of parasite communities.

elviradbastiani [at] gmail [dot] com

Graduate students

Sean O’Fallon (PhD 2022- )

Sean studies the nest architecture of ant colonies, focusing on the factors that determine patterns of nest development and the impacts of nest structure on collective behavior. His current project investigates the effects of environmental conditions on the construction of nests by quantifying the nests constructed by harvester ants in lab-controlled environments.

seanofallon [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

 

Kaija Gahm (PhD 2021- )

Kaija is fascinated by how animals’ movements affect their social interactions, and vice versa. For her PhD, she’ll be using social network analysis to study GPS-tagged griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), relating their movements to their social interactions in various behavioral contexts. Previously, Kaija got her B.S. at Yale, where she studied tadpoles. After graduating, she worked as a data scientist for research projects in aquatic ecology and linguistics. Her research has been inspired by hours spent watching acorn woodpeckers and backyard chickens.

kgahm [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu https://kaijagahm.netlify.app/

Alejandra Gamboa (PhD 2019- )

Alejandra is interested in how the interactions between animals and their microbes have an impact on social behavior, host foraging environment, microbe flow, and collective immunity. For her Ph.D., she will explore the interplay between host-microbiome composition and social interactions in A. versicolor. Specifically, Alejandra will examine the relationship between microbial community diversity/composition and social behavior, host foraging environment, microbial transmission, and host collective immunity.

dgamboa24 [at] g [dot] ucla [dot] edu

 

Alumni

Postdocs
Nitika Sharma (2019-2022) now in data science at IoES, UCLA
Guo Xiaohui (2021-2022) now at the Weizmann Institute, Israel
Julie Miller (2017-2021) now in data science
Natalie Lemanski (2018- 2020) now faculty at Ramapo College, NJ, USA
Thiago Mosqueiro (2015-2018) now at Amazon
Edmund Hunt (2016-2017) now at the University of Bristol, UK
Reut Berger-Tal (2015) now at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel

Graduate students
Sean O’Fallon (M.Sc. 2020-2022)
Gabby Najm (M.Sc. 2018-2020)
Ana Rubio (M.Sc. 2018-2020)

Undergraduate students (who conducted independent projects)
UCLA
Max Madrzyk (2020 – 2022)
Bryce Barbee (2019-2022)
Colette White (2019-2021)
Anna Weir (2019-2020)
Emily Surrell (2019-2020)
Madison Pinko (2019-2020)
Francis Evangelista (2018-2019)
Jessica Patzlaff (2019)
Kevin Neumann (2016-2019)
Artem Pashinchinskiy (2017-2019)
Maurissa Brown (2018-2019)
Emma Wan (2018)
Angela Xue (2018)
Angelika Pe (2018)
Hannah Page (2016-17)
Melissa Peng (2016-17)

UCSD
Brian Mi (2015-16)
Ashley Hui (2013)