Meet the Organizers

Science Under the Stars was founded and is organized entirely by UT-Austin students in the Ecology, Evolution & Behavior (EEB), Plant Biology (PB), and Cell & Molecular Biology (CMB) graduate programs. While we may have diverse interests in our respective fields, we all have one thing in common: a love of science!

SUTS organizers, September 2024 (Top) and February 2023 (Bottom)

Current members:

: Tianyi Xu [EEB] is a third-year PhD candidate. Her research investigates biodiversity changes in Caribbean reptiles in response to global changes. Tianyi spends most of her free time doing landscape and wildlife photography and she loves traveling and visiting national parks. She is also interested in science outreach and education, hoping to help establish the bridge between scientists and the public. Tianyi is currently Co-president and the webmaster of SUTS; she creates marketing flyers and posts for talks and manages SUTS’ social media platforms and this website. She also helps with designing activities for the natural history table.

: Smruti Pimplikar [EEB] is a fifth-year PhD candidate studying how cognition informs behavior in bumblebees, with a focus on their foraging behavior. She is currently Co-president and treasurer for SUTS.

: Savvy Cornett (they/them/theirs) [EEB] is a fourth-year PhD candidate. They are interested in reproductive physiology in swordtail fish with a side of intersectional biofeminisms. Savvy helps set up and take down the SUTS equipment, and answer questions at the kids’ activity and natural history tables. (Photo Credit: Anwyn Gatesy-Davis)

: Emily Hyde [EEB] is a second-year PhD student within the field of marine microbial ecology. Her research interests include biogeochemical cycling, microbial communities in extreme environments and the roles of uncultivated organisms (especially archaea) in cycling through the use of computational approaches. She serves as an organizer of the kids activity table at SUTS.

: Ally Boville [EEB] is a third-year PhD student and part of the natural history table team. Her research interests are in mammal paleoecology and morphology and understanding the human drivers behind mammal biodiversity loss in the Caribbean. Originally raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, she grew up exploring along the California coastline and enjoys hiking, herping, and birding in her free time. She also has a strong love for visiting and working in museums and hopes to continue to incorporate this in her research and spare time.

: Chloé Allen [EEB] is a second-year PhD student in the Zamudio lab. She is interested in amphibian immunogenetics and global climate change. She plans to spend her PhD investigating how both co-infection and climate change alter the expression of immune system genes in frogs within the Americas and hopes to discover potential ways to leverage these genetic pathways to promote resistance in susceptible anuran species and populations. Being a Georgia native, she has spent most of her time in the Appalachian national forests exploring the rivers, lakes, and waterfalls within them and, enjoys herping, hiking, and going on adventures with her dog on her off days. Chloé currently serves as an organizer for SUTS, compiling specimens, facts, and displays for the SUTS natural history table.

: Tushar Sharma [EEB] is a second-year PhD student in the Cannatella Lab. He is interested in character trait evolution and systematics in frogs. Tushar’s research currently focuses on investigating the origin and adaptive significance of biofluorescence in amphibians. His multidisciplinary research answers this question using techniques and concepts from molecular biology, chemical ecology and proteomics, evolution, and animal behavior. Tushar is an organizer for the SUTS natural history table.

: Steven Wang [EEB] is a second-year PhD student co-advised by Dr. Wild and Dr. Mueller. He is interested in patterns of ant evolution across climatic gradients. Raised in Texas, he spent a lot of time surveying the invertebrate biodiversity across a wide variety of habitats in the state. You can find some of these photographs on iNaturalist and Bugguide. He is currently serving as one of the organizers for the SUTS natural history table.

: Sam Zbinden [EEB] is a first-year PhD student in the Kemp Lab. Her research focuses on fossil salamander community diversity and morphological changes as a result of past climatic events. She also loves learning about AI and machine learning and plans to find new ways of integrating AI with paleontology. Sam is originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, completed her undergraduate degree in Florida, and loves going on nature walks in her free time. Sam is currently an organizer for the SUTS natural history table.

: Elizabeth Austin [EEB] is a first-year PhD student, interested in how we can better understand past species interactions to better inform future ecosystem change! She is an organizer at SUTS, helping to set up/take down the event, answer questions, and work the tables. Outside of school, Elizabeth enjoys hiking, cooking, playing rugby, and exploring the outdoors.

: Luke Larter [EEB] is a fifth-year PhD candidate broadly interested in social behavior and sexual selection. His research focuses on investigating how signaling interactions among males influence female choice in frog and katydid choruses. He is currently serving as an advertising coordinator for SUTS.

: Xinyi Yan [EEB] is a fifth-year PhD candidate interested in integrating theory and empirical work to study how plant-soil microbe interactions shape plant community assembly and coexistence. At SUTS talks, Xinyi helps set up and take down the screen, and sometimes leads BFL tours.

: Jennie DeVore [EEB] is a third-year PhD student interested in studying bumblebee construction behavior and concept learning. She designs coloring sheets for the kids’ activity table at SUTS.

: Elena Leander [EEB] is a fourth-year PhD candidate. She is interested in understanding how plant-soil interactions can inform ecosystem restoration efforts, especially in the context of climate mitigation. Her field sites include local grasslands, where she is examining the effects of plant invasions and disturbance on plant and soil community composition. Elena is the point of contact for engaging SUTS with organizations and events outside of the monthly seminar.

: Erik Iverson [EEB] is a sixth-year PhD candidate. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Erik went to school in New Orleans and began to work on ecology and conservation, studying the relationship between birds and their environment in Ecuador and Australia. After graduating, Erik worked on natural resources management for a variety of agencies including the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, before managing an avian neuroscience lab at Emory University. His work now focuses on understanding how mitochondrial and nuclear genes work together to enable adaptation, and he studies freshwater fish in Mexico and birds in Peru to see how related species have adapted to the challenges of living in different climates. Erik also works locally in conservation, serving as the Vice President of the nonprofit Pines and Prairies Land Trust, which protects approximately 2500 acres of land in Central Texas. At SUTS, Erik helps prepare and set up the talks.

Past members:

Science Under The Stars organizers, Spring 2016. Photo by Ian Wright.

: Emily Javan (“Ja-von”) [EEB]’s research focusing on combating COVID-19 spread through mathematical modeling and data analysis. She is interested in understanding COVID-19 patient hospital use and length of stay in Texas. She wanted to help hospitals prepare for epidemics and make sure everyone can get the best care year-round. She was a mathematician in CA before coming to UT and loves roller skating with her friends. Emily was a co-president of SUTS.

: Allison Davis Connelly [EEB] studies animal behavior using a clonal fish. Her research focuses on how these fish change their behavior based on their environment and what this tells us about the evolution and maintenance of sexual reproduction. A New Orleanian at heart, Allison spends her free time cooking all things spicy and longing for the swamps. Allison was a co-president of SUTS.

: David Ledesma [EEB] was born and raised in Richmond, TX. As a kid, he would often explore nature while catching ribbon snakes, earth snakes, anoles, geckos, and other herpetofauna. These experiences, along with his visits to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, instilled in him a fascination for reptiles and amphibians as well as the history of life on earth. In his free time, he likes to play soccer and continue to go out into nature to find critters. David helped with the natural history table at SUTS. Find more about him here: https://www.davidtledesma.com/

: Isaac Miller-Crews [EEB] studies the evolution of social behavior. He researches how neural gene networks regulate reproduction. A native Austinite, Isaac enjoys fishing, hiking, and reading SciFi books. Find more here: https://imillercrews.wordpress.com/

: Brandi Christiano [EEB]’s research focuses on the diverse facets of bat foraging behavior, including their dietary preferences and diversity, utilization of social information, and communication strategies. She’s interested in how female’s nutritional decisions change as they gestate and nurse their offspring. Brandi was a kids’ activity coordinator.

: Domnique Gallery (they/them/theirs) [EEB]’s research focuses on the evolution of cryptic species in coral reefs. They designed and organized kids’ activities at SUTS.

: Christina Balentine [EEB] studies human anthropological genetics and is interested in learning how humans survive and thrive in extreme environments (like the cold climates of the Arctic and sub-Antarctic) by studying the DNA and culture/archaeology of ancient and present-day peoples. Christina is a former website and Facebook manager. Find more about Christina here: https://cmbalentine.wordpress.com

: Colin Morrison [EEB] studies species interactions and community ecology. Most of his work focuses on insects and the plants they eat. Colin led the BFL tours and was involved in preparing for the natural history table. Learn more about Colin here: http://www.colinrmorrison.com/

: Britt White [EEB] uses the genetics and appearances of lizards to study the evolution of within species variation. She is interested in understanding how the climate and environment of the past led to this variation and how it may help predict future survival. As a Native New Mexican, Britt loves green and red chile and searching for Southwestern amphibians and reptiles. Find more about her here: https://brittawhite.wordpress.com

: Julia York [EEB] studies how polar animals sense temperature and how they might respond to climate change. She is originally from Alaska and hopes to work in Antarctica some day.

: Kyle Wilhite [EEB] is interested in signal evolution and animal communication. He mostly studies sexual selection in a variety of frog species, focusing on body condition and signal integration across multiple signaling modalities.

: Jeff Coleman [EEB] is broadly interested in evolutionary genetics and genomics. He is currently trying to understand the genetic mechanisms that cause brightly colored and chemically defended poison frogs in the group Epipedobates to take up toxins from their diets into their skin. More about Jeff here: http://cannatellalab.org/authors/jeffrey-coleman/.

: Caitlin Friesen [EEB] is interested in social behavior, neuroendocrinology, and environmental physiology. Her research examines the effect of the social and physical environment on physiological and behavioral patterns that govern how individuals interact. You can read more about her work here: https://caitlinfriesen.wordpress.com/

: Anne Chambers [EEB] studies the evolutionary history of reptiles and amphibians. She is interested in what genetics can tell us about the evolutionary processes that form species. Anne spends her free time hiking in southern Utah. Find more here: http://www.eannechambers.wordpress.com.

: Kelly Wallace [EEB] studies cognitive ecology and how behavior influences cognition. She is researching the question “What are the behavioral tendencies of a good learner?” by putting fish through math tests, mazes, and personality tests.

: Emily Rees [PB] studies plant ecology & plant-animal coevolution. She loves being outdoors, whether that is doing field research or riding her bicycle around Austin. Emily also spends some of her free-time baking, reading sci-fi, and cuddling her two kitties.

: Emma Dietrich [EEB] is interested in social evolution, microbiology, and behavioral ecology. Emma studies the microbiome and natural history of a social spider in Texas. She also loves baking french macarons. Website: http://arachnidlady.wordpress.com/

: Rebecca Tarvin [EEB] studies evolutionary biology. She researches how poison frogs avoid poisoning themselves. In general she is interested in how animals adapt to their environments. Website: http://www.rebeccatarvin.com/

: Decio Correa [EEB] is interested in ecology and herpetology. He studies the bacteria that live in association with frogs and tadpoles. You can read more about his work here: https://www.deciocorrea.com/

: Andrius Dagilis [EEB] researches the evolution of gene order, chromosomes, and speciation.

: Nathan LeClear [PB] is interested in botany, systematics, & biogeography. He loves the diversity of plants, and studies the relationships of the genus Jatropha and the evolution of plant diversity in the seasonally dry tropical forests of Mexico.

: Rachel Wright [CMB] studies ecological genomics. You can read more about her work here: http://rmwright.weebly.com/

: Gautam Surya [EEB] is interested in evolutionary ecology and conservation biology. Gautam works on bird community evolution and conservation in the Eastern Himalayas.

: Marie Strader [EEB] researches coral reef genomics and ecology. You can read more about her work here: http://mariestrader.weebly.com

: Erin Giglio [EEB].

: Nichole Bennett is a graduate student in Ecology, Evolution & Behavior

: Andria Salas [EEB].

: Ashley Green [PB].

: Olivia Schmidt [EEB].

: Rong Ma [EEB] studies chemical ecology, behavior, genomics, and social evolution. He is fascinated by the complex system of chemical communication in honey bees, especially in the ways that pheromones influence behavior. Rong enjoys rock climbing, archery, and calligraphy.

: Stavana Strutz [EEB].

4 responses to “Meet the Organizers”

James Choate says : November 21, 2021 at 7:39 pm
Hi,
Don’t know if you’re aware, but several of the links under “More Science” are dead. The meetup I sponsor Nature Nerds is active and you’re more than welcome to list it if you think it suitable. Best wishes.

Reply
- Christina M Balentine says : January 27, 2022 at 10:51 pm
  Thank you for bringing this to our attention! We have updated the links and added Nature Nerds.
  
  Reply
Aditi Werth says : July 5, 2024 at 12:28 pm
would definitely be interested in attending these lectures during summer 2024. consider adding more? thank you! If you have other events, please let me know.

Reply