PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Dr. Rachael Winfree

Rachael Winfree is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. Her research interests include (1) how pollinators and the pollination services they provide are affected by global change, (2) the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem services, (3) plant-pollinator networks, and (4) pollinator conservation and restoration. Her work has been funded primarily by the National Science Foundation and USDA-AFRI, and has been published in leading scientific journals including PNAS, Science, Ecology Letters, Ecology, and Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Rachael’s research has also been featured in the popular media such as Nature (commentary), Audubon magazine, National Wildlife magazine, Science News, The Scientist, and National Public Radio (NPR). Rachael received her Ph.D. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2001 and her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1990.

Rachael serves on the Board of Directors of the Xerces Society is an editor for Global Ecology and Biogeography.

CV / Google Scholar

POSTDOCS

Dr. Mark Genung

Mark is interested in research linking biodiversity and ecosystem function, and has previously addressed these questions at the intraspecific genetic level, including in the context of plant-pollinator interactions. In the Winfree lab, he is using the Price equation to examine the relative importance of richness, composition, and stability for real-world ecosystem services, and working on several plant-pollinator network projects. He received his Ph.D from the University of Tennessee in 2012.

web site / CV / Google Scholar

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Dr. James Reilly

James is an ecological modeler who develops and analyzes mathematical and statistical models in collaboration with various members of the lab. James received his Ph.D from Cornell University in 2009.

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Dr. Tina Harrison

Tina is interested in understanding how land use affects biodiversity at different spatial scales. Her current research questions are, how should rarity be defined for diverse and poorly sampled taxa? Can we assess the importance of different landscapes for supporting rare species? This research is conducted in collaboration with New Jersey DEP, with an applied goal to make New Jersey the first state to evaluate its total bee fauna for conservation need. Tina completed her dissertation research in the Winfree lab, and received her Ph.D from Rutgers University in October 2016.

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GRADUATE STUDENTS

Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar

Bethanne Bruninga-Socolar is studying the responses of a plant-pollinator community to mass-flowering episodes of Astragalus scaphoides at field sites in Montana and Idaho. She is a fifth-year Ph.D student, funded by a Rutgers Excellence Fellowship, and received her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College in 2010.

web site / CV / Google Scholar

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Colleen Smith

Colleen Smith is a third-year Ph.D student, funded by a Rutgers Presidential Fellowship. Colleen is interested in understanding what factors influence bee diet breadth, and in examining how pollen use by spring forest bees change with increasing spatial scale. She received her undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Michigan in 2013.

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Michael Roswell

Michael Roswell is a third-year Ph.D student funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Rutgers Excellence Fellowship. Michael is interested in how the specifics of plant-pollinator interactions inform both ecological networks, and restoration and management. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 2011 with majors in Biology and Linguistics.

UNDERGRADUATES

Rosy Tucker

Rosy is a senior at Rutgers who is doing independent research on the spatial locations where rare bee species are found in New Jersey. She is also collaborating with other Winfree lab members to complete analyses of large data sets on how biodiversity affects ecosystem services.

LAB ALUMNI/AE – POSTDOCS

• Dan Cariveau Assistant Professor in Entomology at the University of Minnesota Google Scholar
• Ignasi (Nacho) Bartomeus Faculty researcher at EBD-CSIC (Doñana Biological Station), Seville, funded by a Ramón y Cajal Fellowship Award Google Scholar
• Romina Rader Lecturer in Environmental Management at the University of New England, Australia Google Scholar
• Geetha Nayak was a Fulbright-Nehru Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab in 2011-2012

LAB ALUMNI/AE – GRADUATE STUDENTS

• Tina Harrison, Ph.D 2016 – Currently a postdoc in the Winfree Lab at Rutgers
• Faye Benjamin, Ph.D 2015 – Adjunct Professor, Nassau State Community College Google Scholar
• Molly MacLeod, Ph.D. 2015 – Senior Manager in Science Content, Pfizer
• Sean Griffin, MS 2015 – PhD student, North Carolina State University website / Google Scholar

LAB ALUMNI/AE – UNDERGRADUATES

• Joe Zientek, graduated 2016 – Currently a technician at Rutgers Marine Field Station
• Kurtis Himmler, graduated 2016
• Tiffany Bennett, graduated 2016
• Abigail Cohen, graduated 2014 – Currently a graduate student at the University of Minnesota.
• Stacy Brody, graduated 2013
• Bridget Johnson, graduated 2013 – Currently a Ph.D. student in Plant Biology at the University of Western Australia.
• Samantha Hauser, graduated 2011 – Currently a Ph.D student in Environmental and Evolutionary Biology at University of Louisiana.