Emma Zajdela joined the Levin Lab in October 2023.  Previously, she completed her Ph.D. in the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University, where she was a recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, Buffett Institute Global Impacts Fellowship, and NICO Intersection Science Fellowship.  She has worked on topics ranging from the mathematics of poker, autonomous vehicles, scientific collaboration at conferences, and fashion trends using a variety of approaches including game theory and agent-based modeling. Her current work employs a dynamical systems framework, which is then empirically validated with data. Since 2015, she has worked with the Malta Conferences Foundation, a non-profit organization that uses science diplomacy in the Middle East and currently serves as Treasurer and Member of the Board of Directors. At Princeton, Emma is focusing on modeling the dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems at the nexus of environmental challenges, scientific collaboration, and conflict. Recently, she has been studying how to foster international cooperation for global environmental issues, focusing on institutions bridging science, policy, and diplomacy. In collaboration with Professor Michael Oppenheimer (Princeton, School of Public and International Affairs, Department of Geosciences and HMEI), she investigates the role of scientists in creating change in the public sphere, particularly on shared environmental challenges including climate change. Emma is also interested in understanding the role of technology in optimizing scientific ecosystems to foster cross-border collaborations and innovation. As part of this project, she is collaborating with the Santa Fe Institute to study and design the ARCH platform, a new digital ecosystem for online communities. This work is supported by the Sloan Foundation, and in 2024, she was named a Siegel Research Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute to “recognize the contributions you have made to bring network and other forms of nonlinear analysis into the applied domain.”