My Research Experience
Across these projects — from biomechanics to molecular neurobiology, from individual behavior to colony-level dynamics — my work shares a common goal: to understand how evolution shapes neural mechanisms that drive behavior. Whether studying ants in the desert or fruit flies in the lab, I’m fascinated by how brains integrate environmental and social information to produce adaptive behaviors.
Current Work — Postdoctoral Research at Stanford University
I’m currently a postdoctoral researcher in Deborah Gordon’s lab in the Department of Biology at Stanford University, where I study how neural mechanisms shape collective behavior in desert harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus). My work focuses on how dopamine regulates risk-sensitive foraging decisions when colonies face environmental stress, like high temperatures and low humidity.
By combining long-term field studies with neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and advanced imaging, I’m investigating how individual neural variation scales up to drive differences in collective decision-making between colonies. This work connects behavior, brain, and environment, and builds on more than three decades of ecological data from this ant population.
PhD — University of Pennsylvania
During my PhD in the Ding Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, I explored the molecular and neural mechanisms that drive behavioral evolution in Drosophila. My research focused on the evolution of courtship song, a complex behavior with striking variation across species.
Using neuroanatomy, single-cell transcriptomics, and optogenetics, I examined how changes in neural circuits — particularly the TN1 neurons — contribute to species-specific differences in song production. My dissertation revealed how evolutionary changes in gene regulation, including the sex-determination gene doublesex (dsx), shape neural circuits to generate behavioral diversity.
Beyond my main thesis, I also gained experience mentoring students, organizing conferences, and collaborating on projects exploring neural circuits and behavior in different Drosophila species.
Undergraduate Research — University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
As an undergraduate in Andrew Suarez’s lab at UIUC, I conducted an independent project investigating the jumping mechanics of the ant Gigantiops destructor. Using high-speed videography, I discovered how these ants rotate their abdomens during takeoff to generate additional thrust and improve performance. Restricting abdominal rotation reduced their jump distance and velocity, highlighting a fascinating biomechanical adaptation.
This work became my first publication, and it taught me the foundations of experimental design, data collection, and communicating science.
Research in Boston — Boston University & Harvard University
After graduating from UIUC, I spent a year in Boston (2017 - 2018), where I worked in two labs that deepened my interest in social insects and neural mechanisms.
At Boston University, in James Traniello’s lab, I studied the social brain of ants, looking at how brain size, brain metabolism, and behavior are linked to colony structure and ecological demands. This project also examined how nutritional stress affects brain metabolism, providing insight into the energetic costs of maintaining complex brains in social systems.
At Harvard University, in Naomi Pierce’s lab, I worked on projects exploring the evolution of color vision in butterflies and moths and assisted with the ant collection and specimen management in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. These experiences helped me appreciate the value of comparative approaches in studying the evolution of behavior and brain function.
