Our Team
Dr. Ted Stankowich
Principal Investigator
Dr. Stankowich received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in Animal Behavior from the University of California Davis, and he was the Darwin Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also spent time as a Lecturer at UMass and a Teaching Fellow at Harvard University. Dr. Stankowich has a deep commitment to teaching and teaches a variety of courses including Evolution, Mammalogy, Ecology, and Behavioral Ecology. His research interests include the evolution, ecology, and behavior of predator-prey interactions, and he has worked on a broad range of taxa including carnivores, ungulates, rodents, and spiders. Dr. Stankowich's research involves both experimental studies (lab and field studies) and analytical techniques (phylogenetic comparative analysis, meta-analysis).
Dr. Stankowich's Curriculum Vita (PDF)
M.S. Biology Graduate Students
Mackenzie Clark
For her M.S. thesis, Mackenzie is studying the role of mammals as sources of natural pest control in agricultural systems.
Patrick Douglas
For his M.S. thesis, Patrick is exploring mammalian prey responses to mountain lion activity.
Sarah Heimbach
For her M.S. thesis, Sarah is studying coyote conflict with and predation on domestic pets.
Kelly Hood
For her M.S. thesis, Kelly is studying intraguild competition effects on occupancy and coloration in bobcats.
Mikaela Williams
For her M.S. thesis Mikaela is investigating anthropogenic factors influencing urban mammals.
Undergraduate Student Researchers
Yasmin Medina
Yasmin is a Biology major and is examining the environmental factors influencing mammal use of wetland habitat.
Brandyn Noel
Brandyn graduated in 2024 with a degree in Biology and is examining changes in skull and jaw musculature between rural and urban coyotes.
Billy Ransdell
Billy is a Biology major working on the evolution of echidna spines and helps with our urban mammalian ecology projects.
Volunteers & Research Assistants
- Adeline Adney, Jose Brito, Kaitlyn Dreher, Tiziana Llantero, Trinity Lozano, Lynn Marie-Tapia, Brianna Riley, and Anthonia Wright are helping with our urban mammal field projects
- Elizabeth Forrey is a volunteer studying coloration in striped skunks.
- Sharon Kim and Anthonia Wright are helping with our coyote bite force study.
Former Lab Members
- Emily Blackwell completed her M.S. degree in Fall 2024 on the effects of urban heat islands and artificial light at night on mammal habitat use and activity.
- Brynn Sablan graduated in 2024 and completed her Honors Thesis on the effects of proximity to water on mammal habitat use.
- Erin Weiner completed her M.S. degree in Spring 2024 on the responses of mammals to wildfire.
- Alexander Avalos graduated in 2023 and completed his Honors Thesis on the evolution of armor in pangolins.
- Mariana Leyva graduated in 2022 and completed her Honors Thesis on the evolution of spines and coloration in porcupines.
- Laura Hardin graduated in 2023 and helped with our coyote bite force study and integrated pest management field work.
- Danielle Tran graduated in Spring 2022 and worked on the evolution of vision and life history traits in mammals.
- Haley Pang graduated in 2023 and helped score coyote behavior videos and worked on our coyote bite force study.
- Marc Tadros graduated in 2022 and helped with our coyote bite force study.
- Michelli Chai graduated in 2023 and completed her Honors Thesis on changes in skull and jaw musculature between rural and urban coyotes.
- Jordan Rodriguez completed his M.S. degree in 2023 investigating urbanization effects on small and large mammal community dynamics.
- Nicole Lopez completed her M.S. degree in 2022 investigating the evolution of sexual weaponry in ruminant mammals.
- Hannah Rabitoy completed her M.S. degree in 2022 investigating escape behavior in skunks, squirrels, and rabbits.
- Jazmin Esparza graduated in 2022 and helped with our coyote bite force and urban ecology projects.
- Annika Henry graduated in 2022 and helped with our coyote bite force project.
- Alec Fogy graduated in 2022 and helped with our armor evolution and skunk behavior projects.
- Lizbeth Jardon graduated in 2021 examined changes in skull and jaw musculature between rural and urban coyotes.
- Max Amaya completed his M.S. degree in Winter 2022 investigating imagery scale effects on the study of how habitat type impacts mammal landscape use.
- Caitlin Stapp completed her M.S. degree in Fall 2021 investigating the factors that influence the evolution of armor in armadillos.
- Katrina Cazel completed her M.S. degree in Summer 2021 investigating the effects of antipredator defenses on responses to predators and urbanization.
- Kathy Vo completed their M.S. degree in Summer 2021 investigating the effect of pattern and contrast on predator learning about aposematic displays.
- Amber Hatchell graduated in 2021 and helped with our coyote jaw morphology project
- Megan Wickersheim graduated in 2021 helped with our urban ecology projects
- Leslie Romero graduated in 2021 and completed her Honors Thesis on the evolution of coloration in squirrels.
- Jack Villalba graduated in 2020 and helped with several of the coyote and urban ecology projects.
- Michelle Ho graduated in 2020 and helped with the coyote skull morphology project.
- Laura Bone is completing her M.A. degree in Psychology and worked on the responses of coyotes to different patterns in striped skunks.
- Hannah Walker completed her M.S. degree in Fall 2018 investigating the drivers of warning color pattern variation in striped skunks.
- Jonathon Moore-Tupas graduated in 2018 and completed his Honors Thesis on the energetic tradeoffs in mammals with sexual combat weapons.
- Peregrin Reed completed their M.S. degree in Summer 2018 investigating the movement patterns and diets of urban coyotes.
- Victoria Luce completed her M.S. degree in Spring 2018 investigating the biochemistry of noxious skunk defenses.
- Kim Fisher completed her M.S. degree in Fall 2017 investigating striped skunk antipredator responses to coyotes and owls.
- Jessica Ruth initiated our project investigating changes in skull and jaw musculature between rural and urban coyotes.
- Earnest Chae graduated in 2018 and studied the evolution mammalian locomotion styles.
- Chika Okeke graduated with Honors in 2017 and studied the evolution of relative brain and body sizes in squirrels.
- Eliza McLean graduated in 2017 and studied the diversity in the diets of primates.
- Colin Stensrud graduated with Honors in 2017 and studied the evolution spines in tenrecs.
- Caitlin Fay completed her M.S. degree in Winter 2017 investigating aposematic learning and generalization in coyotes.
- Ashly Romero graduated in May 2016 and worked on the correlated evolution of mammalian defenses and intelligence. She was a Presidental Scholar and was awarded Outstanding Graduate for her college.
- Holly Schiefelbein completed her M.S. degree in Spring 2016 investigating wild predator responses to noxious odors and foods.
- Jennifer Martin graduated in May 2016 is working on the evolution of spines in rodents.
- Renee Stewart graduated in May 2016 and worked on a project on squirrel escape behavior, and was a field assistant on the lab's skunk research team.
- Doreen Cabrera graduated in May 2015 and worked on the evolution of tusks in large mammals and the evolution of spines in rodents. She also was a field research assistant on the lab's skunk research team.
- Melody Lilazy graduated in May 2015 and worked on a variety of projects including our skunk field work and our study of predator diets.
- Rosanna Calderon graduated in May 2016 and studied the evolution of color patterns in squirrels (Sciuridae). She went on to get her M.S. in Biochemistry from CSULB in 2018.
- Elan Carnahan graduated in May 2015 with a B.S. in Environmental Science. She worked on squirrel escape behavior and helped with the GIS work on the GeoFear project.
- Rabah Rabah graduated in May 2015 with a B.S. in Biology. He worked on squirrel escape behavior and was part of the skunk trapping team.
- Julie McNamara graduated in May 2013 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy and earned an M.S. in GIS in August 2014. She spearheaded the GIS work of the Geography of Fear project and worked on flight behavior in cactus wrens at Rancho Palos Verdes.
- Nicholas Fedorko graduated in June 2014 with a B.S. in Biology. He developed the dataset on ungulates for the GeoFear project and studied the evolution of brain size in mammals.
- Elizabeth Herrera worked with Holly Schiefelbein on a dog behavior project.
- Trevor Stameisen graduated in December 2013 with a B.S. in Biology. He worked on the escape behavior of California Sciurids.
- Lisa Campbell graduated in Spring 2013 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy. She worked on the evolution of quills and other defenses in mammals.
- Matt Kresky graduated in Spring 2013 with a B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy. He compiled the database on the diets of birds-of-prey that we used in the Geography of Fear project.
