The Levin Lab
| Photo: Levin Lab graduate Nicolas Choquette-Levy (Ph.D., 2022) on the right with Nepalese farmers (2022). Photo courtsey of Nicolas Choquette-Levy. |
| Levin Lab Research Interests |
| SIMON A. LEVIN, Director |
| James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University My research interests have been in complexity, and in understanding how macroscopic patterns and processes are maintained at the level of ecosystems and the biosphere, in terms of ecological, behavioral, and evolutionary mechanisms that operate primarily at the level of the organisms. In recent years, I have turned my attention to the parallels between ecological systems and financial and economic systems, particularly with regard to what makes them vulnerable to collapse, and to the evolution and development of structure and organization. Of particular interest to me are discounting, intergenerational and intragenerational equity, cooperation and social norms. I have been especially interested in the management of public goods and common-pool resources. Much of my ecological research is concerned with the evolution of diversification, the mechanisms sustaining biological diversity in natural systems, and the implications for ecosystem structure and functioning. The work integrates empirical studies and mathematical modeling, with emphasis upon how to extrapolate across scales of space, time, and organizational complexity. The essential mathematical challenge is the development of macroscopic descriptions for the collective behavior of large and heterogeneous ensembles that are subject to continual evolutionary modification. Specific attention is directed to the evolution and ecology of collective behavior, from the movements of flocks of birds and schools of fish to human decision-making. Current ecological systems of study include plant communities, as well as marine open-ocean and intertidal systems. In related work, I have been interested in the dynamics of infectious diseases, and in particular in the self-organization of strain structure in influenza A, and in the dynamics of antibiotic resistance. In addition, I have been involved in issues of sustainable development, with emphasis on the linkages between environmental and socio-economic systems. My book, Fragile Dominion: Complexity and the Commons, is an introduction to my view of the issues underlying the dynamics and management of ecological systems, with broad analogies to socioeconomic systems. |
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| Former Visiting Scholars to the Levin Lab |
| Former Levin Lab Undergraduate Students |
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| Levin Lab Members - Current & Incoming 2024-2025 (in alphabetical order) |
| To read more about the 2024 Levin Lab Members, click here. |
| Emerson Arehart Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI (beginning Fall 2024) Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania (advisors Erol Akçay & Joshua Plotkin) Emerson is currently extending approaches from behavioral ecology and collective decision-making and applying them to social and cultural evolution in humans. In particular, he is interested in human decision making related to land use change and conservation. He also works on integrating scientific machine learning into the scientific discovery process. |
| Talia Borofsky Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI (co-advisor Daniel I. Rubenstein) I am broadly interested in the evolutionary ecology of cooperative behavior. My postdoctoral research, conducted jointly at Princeton (with Simon A. Levin) and at Hebrew University (with Gili Greenbaum) studies: (1) how cooperative behaviors construct ecological niches in which other cooperative behaviors may evolve, and (2) how the evolution of these behaviors influences local ecosystems. |
| Matthew Cheung GS, PACM Matthew is interested in the interplay between human behavior/opinions and the dynamics of wealth in socioeconomic systems. This involves incorporating heterogeneity and aspects of human behavior, such as pro-social preferences and discounting, into models in ecological economics. His current research explores a dynastic model for intergenerational resource transfers under certain conditions, and the implications for inequality. |
| Jacob Chisausky GS, EEB (co-advisor Corina Tarnita) Jacob is a first-year graduate student interested broadly in evolutionary theory. He intends to use analytical and simulation approaches to study topics related to major transitions in evolution, complex systems, and cultural evolution. |
| Stanca Ciupe Visiting Research Scholar, HMEI Professor, Virgina Tech I am interesed in development, analysis, and validation with data of mechanistic models of viral infections, multiscale models of diseaase dynamics, pharmacokinetics-pharmocodynamics models, and theoretical immunology models. The infections I investigate are caused by viruses such as HIV, hepatitis B, dengue, SARS-CoV-2, and Usutu viruses. A special focus of my research is addressing model identifiability. |
| Stefani Crabtree Visiting Research Scholar Assistant Professor, Utah State University; ASU-SFI Center for Biosocial Complex Systems Fellow, Santa Fe Institute Stefani's research applies complex systems science modeling methodologies (such as agent-based modeling and network science) to problems in social science and ecology. Current research topics include the human place in ecosystems worldwide, the ability to use the archaeological past to calibrate our understanding of human resilience, and the feedbacks between ecosystem health and human health. |
| Abigail Croker Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI (beginning Fall 2024) I am interested in integrating empirical and semi-quantitative research methods and developing systems models to explore broad climatic, environmental, and social challenges requiring novel policy and management interventions. My research explores the drivers and impacts of payment for ecosystem service schemes, including carbon-based accounting projects, on ecological systems across the tropical savanna-forest transitional zone, as well as their influence on agricultural frontier development. |
| Giorgio Dini VSRC (co-advisor Elke Weber) (beginning Fall 2024) Ph.D. Student, University of Bologna, Italy Giorgio is interested in the interplay between human behavior and economic, social and behavioral incentives to drive cooperation and behavior change under different shades of environmental sustainability. The main methodology he adopts is experimental, mostly but not exclusively in laboratory settings, supported by both established and novel frameworks and models. His main work addresses the role of stronger enforcement policies against misleading green claims and its consequences on consumer behavior. Other works aim to establish behavioral reponses to social pressure in dietary and labor choices. |
| Guillaume Falmagne Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI My Ph.D. focused on experimental and phenomenological studies of the quark-gluon plasma. I am now interested in critical transitions in socio-ecological systems, including collective behavior, emerging phenomena, early warning signals, and the influence of structure on transitions. To these goals, I use insiights from high energy physics, statistical physics, and big data/machine learning analysis. |
| Giuseppe M. Ferro Postdoctoral Research Fellow, HMEI Developing models of individual decision-making in risky and ambiguous choices, with a special interest in a range of applications of decision-theory, ranging from microeconomics and finance to management and organization science; expanding previous work to evolutionary models of collective human behavior. |
| Ari Freedman GS, EEB I am interested in studying the evolution of virulence in infectious diseases, and its consequences for disease control and ecosystem function. |
| Theo Gibbs GS, QCB (co-advisor Jonathan Levine) I am interested in how species interactions allow diverse ecosystems to assemble and stably coexist. I aim to identify the mechanisms of species coexistence by using mathematical models to understand experimental data from plant and microbial communities. |
| George Hagstrom Visiting Research Scholar, EEB Doctoral Lecturer, CUNY Dynamics and diversity of marine ecosystems, collective behavior, kinetic and fluid descriptions of animal aggregates, active media, interactions between the climate and the oceans, theoretical ecology, applied mathematics. |
| Xander Huggins Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI (beginning Fall 2024) Killam and NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia My research interests center around studying groundwater systems as social-ecological systems at the regional to global scale. My postdoctoral research will investigate the resilience of groundwater-dependent ecosystems worldwide to changes in groundwater storage dynamics across land use and socioeconomic contexts. I am interested in conducting science that foregrounds groundwater sustainability as a transformative process that can underpin broader goals of social well-being, ecological integrity, social and environmental justice, and Earth system stability. |
| Anna Jacobson GS, QCB (co-advisor Steve Pacala) I am interested in climate change and environmental modelling. I plan on using my computational skillset to help answer questions about the path to net-zero emissions in the United State and worldwide. |
| Harman Jaggi Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI (co-advisor Daniel I. Rubenstein) (beginning Fall 2024) My Ph.D. focused on examining life-history dynamics at multiple scales, evolution of migration in heterogeneous environments, and agroecology of traditional crops. During my postdoc, I am interested in understanding the effect of environmental and anthropogenic disturbances on populations and their implications for socio-ecological systems. To this end, I plan to use interdisciplinary approaches and will be conducting research at Princeton (with Simon A. Levin and Daniel I. Rubentstin) and at the Stockholm Resilience Center. |
| Aanjaneya Kumar Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI (beginning Fall 2024) Complexity Postdoctoral Fellow, Santa Fe Institute My primary aim is to obtain insight into practically relevant problems by first formulating suitable mathematical models, then analyzing them using tools from statistical physics, network science, and evolutionary game theory. I am keen in using complex systems theory to develop new models for governance dealing with environmental and social challenges. |
| Jiayu Li GS, PACM I am interested in understanding ecosystems with mathematical models. |
| Yimei Li GS, QCB (co-advisors Bryan Grenfell and A.J. te Velthuis) I study mathematical models for the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, especially the dynamics at cross-scales. |
| Dhruv Mittal Visiting Student Research Collaborator Ph.D. Student, University of Amsterdam I am interested in understanding collective behavior in society and enhancing its ability to adapt to changing environments. My focus is on leveraging information about social structures and individual heterogeneity to implement responsible and minimal interventions. To achieve this, I utilize tools such as Game Theory, Agent-Based Modeling, and Dynamical Systems in a data-integrated approach. |
| Nusrat Molla Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Andlinger Center (co-advisor Elke Weber) I use mathematical and computational modeling, sometimes in conjunction with qualitative methods, to explore how the social relations and institutions that shape how people use and benefit from natural resources shape both system-level and differentiated responses to change. I am particularaly interested in how communities reliant on extractive industries can transition towards more sustainable and equitable livelihoods and forms of production. |
| Victor V. Odouard GS, PACM I am interested in understanding political and economic systems so we can design new ones that do what we want them to do. |
| Marcela Ordorica Arango GS, MAE (co-advisor Naomi Leonard) Marcela Ordorica Arango's research centers on understanding how human behavior and information transmission influence the spread of epidemics and other contagion phenomena in networks. By developing and analyzing mathematical models, she explores the impact of individual behaviors on these dynamics. |
| Denis Patterson Visiting Research Scholar, HMEI Assistant Professor, Durham University, Department of Mathematical Sciences I work at the intersection of dynamical systems, stochastics and a number of application areas, namely ecology, neuroscience and development (how organisms grow and evolve). My work involves collaboration with researchers in other disciplines to design realistic mathematical models and mathematical analysis to understand the structure and predictions of these models. |
| Annie Stephenson Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI My research is focused on applying physics-based models to understand large-scale human social dynamics and collective behavior. In particular, I'm interested in social movements, social change, and cooperation. |
| Xiao Sun Visiting Fellow, HMEI; Levin & Rubenstein Labs Associate Professor, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences My research focuses on ecosystem services modelling and spatial optimization, landscape multi-scale planning, and the trade-offs between agricultural production and ecological benefits. In particular, I am developing models and tools for the conservation and management of ecosystem services, providing landscape governance approaches for ecological restoration, thereby enhancing the sustainability of socio-economic systems. |
| Emma Zajdela Postdoctoral Research Associate, HMEI, C-PREE (co-advisor Michael Oppenheimer) My research focuses on modeling complex social systems, using a variety of approaches including applied dynamical systems, game theory, network science, and agent-based modeling. I am particularly interested in studying cross-border scientific collaboration at the nexus of environmental challenges and conflict. |
