Lab Members

Christina Riehl,
Associate Professor

Office: Guyot 405
email: criehl@princeton.edu
​Click here for CV
Christie studies the ecology and evolution of avian life histories, especially in tropical species. Her long-term research project is on cooperatively breeding greater anis in Panama, with many other projects on the evolution of parental care and mating systems in birds. She is also affiliated with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Princeton's High Meadows Environmental Institute, and Princeton's Program in Latin American Studies. Her Google Scholar page is here.

Joshua LaPergola,
Postdoctoral Researcher

Office: Guyot 419
email: jl101@princeton.edu
Twitter: @DoctorScience7
​Josh studies the behavior and natural history of tropical birds and the ecology and evolution of sociality. His current postdoc project focuses on collective decision-making in greater anis and using double-digest RAD sequencing to understand kinship patterns in several tropical bird species. Josh earned his M.S. at Villanova University and his Ph.D. at Cornell University, where he studied coloniality in the Hispaniolan Woodpecker. In his spare time, Josh shares his love of nature with his son and daughter, attempts to ensure their survival to adulthood, and dabbles in painting and drawing. Check out his website here.

Cynthia Ursino,
Postdoctoral Researcher

Office: Guyot 419
email: cursino@princeton.edu

​Cynthia received her Ph.D. in 2016 from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, studying the evolution of host-parasite interactions between the specialist Screaming Cowbird and its primary host, the Baywing. As a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in the Riehl lab, her work focuses on the mating system and population genetics of the Shiny and Screaming Cowbird. Using field work and genetic tools, she is interested in understanding whether ecological pressures can favor the evolution of social and genetic monogamy in species without parental care. 

Elisa Yang,
Ph.D. student

Office: Guyot 419
email: ey3846@princeton.edu
Elisa joined the Riehl lab in the fall of 2023 after completing a B.S. in environmental science at UC Berkeley. As an undergraduate, Elisa studied the comparative phylogenetics of estrildid finches with whole genome data. She hopes to continue her research in bird evolution, using tools from behavioral ecology and genetics to study avian systems with unusual life histories. 

Qwahn Kent,
Ph.D. student

Office: Guyot 419
email: qk6999@princeton.edu
Qwahn joined the Riehl lab in the fall of 2022 after completing a B.S. in Biological Sciences at Cornell University. During his undergrad, Qwahn studied avian community composition and biogeography patterns in the Northwest Himalaya. His Ph.D. work focuses on understanding the social dynamics of cooperatively breeding Palmchats (Dulus dominicus) in the Dominican Republic.
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Bre Bennett,
Ph.D. student

Office: Guyot 419
email: brebennett@princeton.edu
Bre joined the Riehl lab in 2021 after receiving a B.S. from Villanova University and subsequently conducting field work on Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees in the Curry lab. Bre's Ph.D. work focuses on breeding behavior and conservation of Black Vultures (Corygyps atratus) in Pennsylvania, in collaboration with Hawk Mountain.

Fengyi (Freda) Guo,
Ph.D. student

Office: Guyot 107b
email: fyguo@princeton.edu
Twitter: @fyguo
Freda began her Ph.D. in 2018 in the Wilcove lab and is also mentored by the Riehl lab. As a conservation ecologist, her dissertation focuses on the stopover ecology and conservation of migratory landbirds in North America. Combining data-driven radar aeroecology and on-the-ground field surveys, she aims to identify stopover hotspots and key habitats for migratory landbirds during the en-route period, thus completing the full-annual-cycle conservation of migratory species. She received her BSc and MPhil at the University of Hong Kong, where she studied biogeography of ants and montane species range shift under global change. Freda’s Google Scholar page can be found here. ​

Severine Hex,
Ph.D. student

email: shex@princeton.edu
Severine began her Ph.D. in 2018 and is co-advised by the Rubenstein and Riehl labs. She is interested in the ecology and evolution of animal communication, including the relationship between communicative and social complexity. Her Ph.D. research focuses on multimodal communication and social complexity in equids, particularly the plains zebra. 
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Kojo Baidoo,
Senior Thesis student

Kojo Baidoo '24 is an undergraduate EEB major conducting his senior thesis research on Black Vultures with Bre Bennett. His field work at Hawk Mountain in 2023 focused on behavioral interactions between Black Vultures at nests and communal roosts. Kojo is also a keen birder and photographer. He is the President of the Princeton Birding Society and was a member of the Princeton Tiger Shrikes, the team that won the 2022 World Series of Birding.​

Sarah Duntley,
Senior Thesis student

Office: Guyot 107B
Sarah Duntley '24 is an undergraduate EEB major conducting her senior thesis research on greater anis in Panama. Her field work on Barro Colorado Island in 2023 focused on documenting the effects of the strong El Nino weather event on ani breeding, and her thesis will use long-term data to explore the effects of climate on the timing of nesting. Sarah is also active in music and theater at Princeton, having sung with the Princeton Glee Club and acted at Theatre Intime.

Zach Smart,
Research Affiliate

Zach is now an M.S. student in social work at Columbia University. His undergraduate senior thesis work at Princeton focused on effects of climate in greater anis, for which he conducted field work in Panama for 3 summers. Zach is currently leading a large meta-analysis on nest predation rates in tropical birds with the Riehl lab and a network of international collaborators.
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Dan Baldassarre,
Postdoc Alum

Dan is now an assistant professor of Ornithology at SUNY Oswego. His postdoctoral project in the Riehl lab focused on the phainopepla, a passerine thought to be an itinerant breeder. Using a combination of GPS tracking and phylogeography, Dan confirmed that individuals move between two distinct breeding areas with an "extra" migratory movement in between. His research paper was the cover article for the Auk (here). 

Lab Alums

      Amanda Savagian, Ph.D.​

Amanda received her Ph.D. from Princeton in 2022, having completed her dissertation on collective communication and breeding behavior of greater anis in Panama. Amanda is now an environmental consultant with the Cascadia Consulting Group.

             Maria Smith, Ph.D.

​Maria received her Ph.D. from Princeton in 2023. Her dissertation focused on workload distribution and division of labor in greater anis in Panama. 

              Trey Hendrix, M.A. 

Trey received his M.A. from Princeton in 2023. His thesis focused on mating system, breeding behavior, and habitat selection of Carolina Wrens in New Jersey.