People

Maria Uriarte is a Professor in the Dept. of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology at Columbia University. She also serves as adjunct faculty in the Dept. of Ecology, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Prof. Uriarte studies the processes that drive forest dynamics in tropical regions, with a focus on forest recovery after natural disturbance events (hurricanes) and human land use and the consequences of these dynamics for ecosystem services. Her current projects are based in Puerto Rico and Brazil.

---

Laura received her Bachelor and Master in Biology from Utrecht University, The Netherlands. It was during her MSc that she started working on tropical forest ecology, with fieldwork campaigns in in French Guiana and Panama. She continued with a Ph.D. at Wageningen University, investigating chemical methods to trace tropical timber origin, with the aim of improving the independent verification of timber origin to reduce illegal timber trade. Her research now focusses on tropical trees, from tracing timber to drought and diversity. Currently she is investigating the effects of drought and disturbance on trees in Puerto Rico.

---

Roí is an ecologist from Jerusalem. He got his B.A. from Bennington College in Evolution and Ecology, and has worked as a research assistant at Harvard Forest and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He currently works on understanding how tree architecture and canopy structure impact forest vulnerability to hurricanes. He uses LiDAR data to map the shape of forests and tries to pick apart how structure and function influence community composition.

---

Eva received her BA in mathematics at Duke University with a focus in how probabilistic mathematics could be applied to the study of tropical forests. After graduating, she spent a year at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama studying liana-induced tree mortality. She is interested in how individual variation in heterogenous landscapes can be incorporated into theories of community assembly and how these then interact to create resilience to disturbance in tropical forests.

---

Linnea received her B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology from U.C. Berkeley after transferring from Pierce College in Los Angeles. Her Honors thesis focused on plant ecophysiological responses to climate change on the California coast. She has worked as a field technician for community ecology research, an agriculture Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, and a technical analyst for forestry-based carbon project development. A recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, she is interested in nature-based solutions to climate change, particularly mangrove forest restoration. Synthesizing geospatial, field, and socio-economic data, she aims to research the implications of carbon market incentives on ecosystem functioning, local community wellbeing, and the biosphere.

---

Alyssa received her BS in Landscape Management and MS in Environmental Science from Brigham Young University. Her master’s thesis focused on understanding seed ecology of native sub-alpine forb species in the Intermountain West. Alyssa is interested in understanding how catastrophic disturbance impacts ecosystem resilience. She is excited to be doing this work in Puerto Rico– assessing implications for future forest resilience by investigating forest response after Hurricane Maria.

---

Shawn received her B.S. in Environmental Science at UCLA with minors in Geography/Environmental Studies and GIS. After graduating, she served as an Americorps Fellow with an environmental nonprofit assisting with forest restoration in Los Angeles, as well as in local government helping cities to be more energy efficient. She is interested in understanding how to best conduct ecological restoration to increase resilience to climate change and invasive species. Her research now focuses on restoration in New York City’s natural forested areas.

---

Rachel is a first-year undergraduate pursuing a BA in Environmental Biology. She previously worked as an intern for two years in the Cruzan Lab at Portland State University. There, she conducted research on how both genetic and environmental features determine seed traits for a wind-dispersed plant, Achyrachaena mollis. Rachel is currently interested in the interaction between seed masting and climate variability, and she is excited to be using seed phenology and tree census data from Puerto Rico.

---

Luis received his BS in Environmental Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus and MPH in Environmental Health from the University of Puerto Rico, Medical Science Campus. He is currently working as the Field Technician for the “Tropical Forest Drought experiment and tree Ecophysiology research project” where he undertakes multiple tasks to maintain and collect data from multiple areas of study in El Yunque National Rainforest

---

Lab Alumni

Chris Smith-Martin, Postdoctoral Associate
Current position: Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota. Website

Jazlynn Shaydra Hall, Ph.D. student
Current position: Postdoctoral Researcher, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, USA.

Pedro Ribeiro Piffer, Ph.D. student
Current position: Technical Manager, ART Secretariat. Winrock International

Andrew Quebbeman, Ph.D. student
Current position: Subscription Experiences Research Analyst, The New York Times, USA.

Naomi Schwartz, Ph.D. student
Current position: Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, Canada.

Benedicte Bachelot, Ph.D. student
Current position: Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University, USA.

Bob Muscarella, Ph.D. student
Current position: Associate Professor, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Marina Côrtes, Ph.D. student
Current position: Associate Professor, UNESP – Rio Claro, Brazil.

Eli Dueker, Ph.D. student
Current position: Associate Professor of Environmental and Urban Studies, Bard College, USA.

Elizabeth Nichols, Ph.D. student
Current position: Foreign Affairs Officer at U.S. Department of State.

Meghan M. McGinty, Ph.D. student
Current position: Owner of Cultivate Nature.

Tanja Crk, MA student
Current position:  GIS Specialist, U.S. EPA.

Timothy J. Agin, MA student
Current position: Ph.D student, University of South Dakota, USA.

Andrew Budsock, MA Student
Current position: Environmental Consultant, ERM USA.

Sam Farrar, Research Technician
Current position: PhD Student, Uppsala University, Sweden.

Charles Yackulic, Postdoctoral Associate
Current position: USGS Research Scientist, Arizona, USA.

Liza Comita, Postdoctoral Associate & Earth Institute Fellow
Current position: Professor, Yale Forestry School, USA.

Marina Anciães, Postdoctoral Associate
Current position: Researcher, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia – INPA, Brazil.

Jesse Lasky, Postdoctoral Associate
Current position: Associate Professor, Pennsylvania State University, USA.

Leandro Reverberi Tambosi, Postdoctoral Associate
Current position: Assistant Professor, Universidade Federal do ABC, Brazil

Xiaohiu Feng, Postdoctoral Associate
Current position: Assistant Professor, China.