The Team

Principal Investigator

Rafael D'Andrea

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York. I received my PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan.

I am interested in how species interactions create order in complex ecosystems. My research addresses questions concerning the key mechanisms behind species coexistence in highly biodiverse communities such as tropical forests. I investigate the relative roles of deterministic and stochastic forces in shaping biodiversity and influencing species coexistence, and what species traits can reveal about the forces underlying ecological dynamics.

My goal as a theoretical ecologist is to ground theory in biological realism. To do so, I draw on mathematical models, computer simulations, and collaborations with colleagues with natural history expertise ranging from tropical forests to microbial communities. 

Postdoctoral Researchers

Athmanathan Senthilnathan

Athma is broadly interested in theoretical problems in ecology and evolution ranging from animal movement, species coexistence, community ecology, eco-evolutionary dynamics and human social dynamics. He got his PhD with Sergey Gavrilets studying the ecological consequences of intraspecific variation. In the D’Andrea lab Athma extends his work on eco-evolutionary dynamics to understand the effects of biotic-abiotic feedback in plant communities, with a focus on plant-soil feedbacks. His overarching goal is to contribute to a mathematical framework which incorporates traits in a mechanistic manner to study ecological and eco-evolutionary problems.

Athma is currently mentoring a high-school student and an undergraduate student in the lab.

Check out Athma's website here. You can also find him on Twitter.  

Mihir Umarani

Mihir received his PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Stony Brook University. He is interested in the evolutionary ecology of species interactions. In the lab, Mihir uses theoretical models to explore how interactions generate patterns across space and time in high-diversity species assemblages. He also develops tools to detect their influence in natural communities, and applies those tools using real-world data.

Mihir is currently mentoring a high-school student in the lab.


Graduate Students

Urmi Poddar

Urmi is a sixth-year PhD student in E&E. She received her Masters in Biology at the Indian Institute for Science Education and Research - Pune, India in 2018. She is interested in understanding biological invasions, particularly plant invasions, from a community assembly point-of-view. Specifically, she is trying to use community assembly models to explain the distribution and abundance of non-native and invasive species across natural and simulated plant communities. Her approach combines simulations and analysis of empirical data from different study systems and spatio-temporal scales, which is useful for understanding how the determinants of invasion vary across systems and scales. 

Carlos Morantes Ariza

Carlos is a second-year PhD student in E&E. He received his Bachelor in Biology at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in 2014. Since then he has worked on a range of different research topics including clinical research, behavioral ecology of Apis mellifera and spatial distribution of invasive plant species in Colombia. He is interested in understanding the emergence of patterns in biological systems, especially at the community level. In the D'Andrea lab, he will study the dynamics that create and sustain biodiversity by implementing computational tools such as deep learning algorithms and systems modeling. 

Rachael Sclafani

Rachael is a second-year PhD student in E&E. She received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Dickinson College in 2016. Since graduating she has worked for Esri and the NYC Parks Department doing GIS and SQL development. For her PhD, she is interested in studying the community impacts of assisted migration of tree species in the US using a combination of empirical and modelling methods. 

Noah Dean

Noah is a second-year PhD student in the Applied Math and Statistics program. He received his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Michigan State University in 2021. He is interested in using computational models to help better understand the processes that drive community assembly. In particular, he is researching the relative impacts of competition and environmental preferences on the spatial distribution and recruitment strategies in tropical rainforest communities.

Lab Affiliates

Henry Chao

Henry is a Master's student in the Applied Math and Statistics department at Stony Brook. In the lab, he is studying the impacts of multidimensional niche space on the emergence of patterns in the traits of coexisting species. Specifically, Henry is examining models of co-limitation by multiple resources, looking for signature patterns along a single niche axis. 

Anthony Mauri

Anthony is a Master's student in the Applied Math and Statistics department at Stony Brook. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Stony Brook University. He is interested in using mathematical methods to understand complex biological interactions. In the lab, Anthony is studying community-level patterns in the distribution of traits across species in plant communities, indicative of competitive interactions, and developing tools to robustly detect these patterns. 

Dianzhuo Wong

Dianzhuo received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is now a Ph.D. student at Harvard University. He has a broad interest in using physical and mathematical methods to understand complex biological interactions at different scales. In the lab, Dianzhuo studies the dynamics of niche differentiation in tropical forests caused by local environments. 

Jennifer Cao

Jennifer graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Stony Brook University in the Spring of 2022. In the lab, Jennifer is working on how territoriality, movement, and competition for resources affects the distribution of body size among animals  in a given community.

Sabiq Shahab

Sabiq is a double major in Biology and Anthropology at Stony Brook University. In the lab, Sabiq wants to examine the impact of competition for light in the distribution of plant height in tropical forests. 


ZhanPeng Zheng

ZhanPeng is a Biology major at Stony Brook University. In the lab, ZhanPeng wants to study how metapopulation dynamics affect growth and extinction risk in endangered populations living in fragmented habitat.