People: Faculty
Marc Abrams
Professor of Forest Ecology and Physiology Community, historical and physiological ecology of tree species; global change biology.
Jared Ali
Assistant Professor of Entomology
Behavior and chemical ecology of multi-trophic interactions, including plant responses to below-ground herbivory and nematode. Insect community ecology, chemical ecology, and coevolution. Trophic cascades, above- and below-ground interactions,…
Paul Bartell
Associate Professor of Avian Biology The regulation of biological clocks in birds at the systems level.
Iliana Baums
Associate Professor of Biology Molecular ecology and evolution of reef invertebrates.
Terrence Bell
Assistant Professor of Phytobiomes Soil and root-associated microbiomes, microbiome assembly, microbiome manipulation, disturbance.
Douglas Bird
Associate Professor of Anthropology Livelihood decisions and habitats, exploring the dynamics of human subsistence practices, their role in ecosystem function, and their archaeological implications in Australia and Western North America.
Rebecca Bird
Professor of Anthropology
Gender division of labor in hunting and gathering, cooperation, costly signaling, indigenous conservation/land management, and fire ecology, drawing on theory, models, and methods from behavioral ecology and landscape ecology to answer questions…
Ottar Bjornstad
Distinguished Professor of Entomology and Biology; Adjunct Professor in Statistics Population ecology and population dynamics with particular emphasis on mathematical and computational aspects
Elizabeth Boyer
Associate Professor of Forest Hydrology Hydrology, Biogeochemistry, Water Quality, and Atmospheric Deposition.
Victoria Braithwaite
Professor of Fisheries and Biology, Director of the Neurosciences Institute Brain and behavior responses to stressors during different stages of development. How these promote or inhibit neurogenesis and support increased behavioral resilience
Margaret Brittingham
Professor of Wildlife Resources Avian ecology; avian response to oil and gas exploration and development; effects of habitat fragmentation on bird populations; managing wildlife on private land
Mary Ann Bruns
Associate Professor of Soil Microbiology and Biogeochemistry Functional ecology of biogeochemically important microbial populations.
Isabella Cattadori
Associate Professor of Biology Immuno-epidemiology of co-infection, how host immunity modulates parasite interactions and transmission and how host molecular processes explain the dynamics of infection at the population level.
Charles Andrew Cole
Associate Proessor of Landscape Architecture & Ecology Ecosystem ecology: wetlands, hydrology, restoration, seed banks, plant communities, historical ecology.
Duane Diefenbach
Adjunct Asst. Professor of Wildlife Ecology; Leader, PA Coop. Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Wildlife ecology, estimation of population parameters, and harvest management of game populations.
Patrick Drohan
Assistant Professor of Pedology Soil formation and biogeochemistry due to land use and ecosystem change; soil and water degradation, and the remediation of soil physical and chemical properties in urban environments.
David Eissenstat
Professor of Woody Plant Physiology Plant physiological ecology. Root biology and physiology. Plant carbon and nutrient economies.
Matthew Ferrari
Associate Professor of Biology Public Health, Quantitative Epidemiology, Population Ecology, Statistics, Computational and Mathematical Biology
Charles Fisher
Professor Physiological and community ecology of deep sea hydrothermal vent and cold seep fauna.
Sagan Friant
Assistant Research Professor Evolutionary anthropology of human health, disease ecology, nutrition, socio-ecological systems, bushmeat hunting, Nigeria.
Sarah Goslee
Research Associate Landscape diversity in agricultural areas; Taxonomic and functional diversity and grassland management; Multivariate and spatial analysis for ecological data.
Christina M Grozinger
Director of the Center for Pollinator Research; Distinguished Professor of Entomology Genomics of social behavior and health in bees
Kevin Hockett
Assistant Professor of Microbial Ecology, Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology Biological Control, Biology and Ecology of Plant-Microbe and Plant-Environment Interactions, Microbial Ecology and Population Biology Faculty
Peter Hudson
Former Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Willaman Professor of Biology Population dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife and the dynamics of parasite community structure.
David Hughes
Assistant Professor of Entomology and Biology Parasite manipulation of host behavior
Margot Kaye
Associate Professor of Forest Ecology Vegetation dynamics; global change ecology; interactions among vegetation, climate and human land use; dendrochronology; disturbance history; environmental change.
Jason Kaye
Chair of the Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology; Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry Ecosystem ecology; global change biology; biogeochemistry of nitrogen and carbon cycling in managed and unmanaged ecosystems.
Armen Kemanian
Associate Professor of Production Systems and Modeling Agricultural Systems, Agricultural and Natural Systems Modeling, Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Cycling, Bioenergy Systems, Coupled Hydrologic and Nutrient Modeling, and Plant Competition
Todd Lajeunesse
Associate Professor of Biology Microbial Ecology and Evolution
Tracy Langkilde
Professor and Head of Biology The interface of ecology and evolution to understand how an organism's traits are matched to its environment and responds to novel selective pressures imposed by global environmental change, and the consequences of this adaptation.
Jesse Lasky
Assistant Professor of Biology Ecological & evolutionary genomics, genetic and ecophysiological basis of adaptation to environmental stress, evolutionary ecology of biological complexity.
Carolyn Mahan
Professor of Biology The study of biodiversity in threatened ecosystems, the effects of human-modified landscapes on wildlife, and behavioral ecology of sciurids. Dr. Mahan teaches introductory biology, environmental studies, field ecology, and evolution.
James Marden
Associate Director of Operations, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Professor of Biology How physiological variation within species affects their ecology and evolution. Primarily with insects, but recently also with plants, and a particular interest in allelic variation in the pathogen resistance genes of tropical trees.
David Miller
Associate Professor of Wildlife Population Ecology Population ecology, quantitative ecology, avian and amphibian ecology, conservation decision analysis, life-history evolution.
George Perry
Harry J. and Elissa M. Sichi Early Career Professor of Anthropology; Associate Professor, Departments of Anthropology and Biology Human and non-human primate evolutionary ecology, parasite evolutionary biology as a proxy for studying human evolution, genomics, and paleogenomics (ancient DNA).
Andrew Read
Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences; Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Entomology; Eberly Professor of Biotechnology The ecology and evolutionary genetics of infectious disease.
Katriona Shea
Professor of Biology; Alumni Professor in the Biological Sciences The use of ecological theory in population management.
Erica Smithwick
Director of the Ecology Institute; Professor of Geography Uunderstanding how a wide range of disturbances, especially fire, affect ecosystem function at landscape scales.
Kim Steiner
Professor of Forest Biology; Director, The Arboretum at Penn State The ecology, genecology, and physiological ecology of forest regeneration following disturbance.
Andrew Stephenson
Distinguished Professor of Biology The impact of inbreeding by plants on organic volatile production, herbivory and the establishment and spread of diseases. The effects of disease on the foraging behavior of vectors and their natural enemies.
Kenneth Tamminga
Distinguished Professor of Landscape Architecture Ecological restoration; ecological design; sustainability; environmental planning; urban green infrastructure; ecology and design pedagogy.
Matthew Thomas
Professor and Huck Scholar in Ecological Entomology The ecology and evolution of enemy-victim interactions
James Tumlinson
Director of the Center for Chemical Ecology; Ralph O. Mumma Professor of Entomology Insect chemical ecology. Plant-insect interactions. Insect attractants.
Karl Zimmerer
Professor of Geography
Land use and agricultural change/global change, Economic development/globalization/neoliberalism, Nature-society and human-environment theory, Environmental impacts (biodiversity/soils/water/conservation), Food/producer-consumer…