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Dr. Shermin de Silva (PhD) - Group Leader
I direct the Udawalawe Elephant Research Project, and am the President and Founder of Trunks & Leaves Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to the evidence-based conservation of Asian elephants and their habitats. Prior to joining UCSD, I held postdoctoral fellowships at Colorado State University, the Institute or Advanced Study in Berlin, and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. I currently serve on the Asian Elephant Specialist Group of the IUCN. I received my PhD in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania. |
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Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Researchers
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Finn Deacher - BS / MS Program
I am currently an undergraduate at UCSD studying EBE. I am from Boulder, Colorado and spent a semester abroad studying ecology and marine biology in Australia. I am interested in animal behavior and recovery ecology, and plan on doing a masters and PhD with the goal to work in endangered species conservation.
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Abhinaya Pathak - Graduate Student
I worked for Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation under Ministry of Forests and Environment for more than 7 years in different protected areas of Nepal. As I love to work and study about megaherbivores, I have engaged with IUCN Asian Rhino Specialist Group as a member. I did my Masters from National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan in 2020 conducting genetic studies on Greater One Horned Rhinoceros of Chitwan National Park, Nepal as my thesis. I have immense desire to learn megaherbivores with both genetic and ecological lenses alongside apply the learnings in the management and conservation of the species.
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Graduate student in EBE
Shurl & Kay Curci Foundation Scholar (2023-2025) WWF - Education For Nature Scholar |
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Sanchaya Sharma - Graduate Student
I have over five years of research experience in wildlife conservation, focusing primarily on elephant conservation in India. My work involves using GIS and remote sensing data to understand the drivers of human-elephant conflicts, helping to uncover patterns that can guide effective conservation strategies. My broader goal is to contribute to actionable, data-driven plans that can influence both academic research and policy development. By blending scientific research with real-world applications, I hope to create sustainable solutions for wildlife conservation and support long-term environmental protection.
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Graduate student in EBE
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Anastasia (Annie) Madsen - Postdoctoral Researcher
I am broadly interested in how social structures in animal populations interact with ecological processes, especially on landscapes heavily impacted by anthropogenic activities. I completed my PhD at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where I investigated how demographic turnover in golden-crowned sparrows impacted 1) long-term structure and stability of social networks and 2) long-term social-spatial fidelity, and finally, how novel information spread through their social networks. As a part of my current research supported by the NSF-PRFB program, I am using a complex adaptive systems approach to study how fission-fusion social processes in animal societies are influenced by internal (social) dynamics and external (ecological) dynamics. Importantly, this work aims to investigate how social phenotypes arise by comparing genetically distinct populations on landscapes with different levels of human disturbance.
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NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology
My homepage |
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Helina Jolly - Postdoctoral Researcher
I am an interdisciplinary researcher, documentarian, and National Geographic explorer working with Indigenous peoples and traditional communities in India and Canada. My research involves understanding their knowledge systems and examining how histories of colonization, oppression, injustice, and governance models have influenced the characterization, measurement, and management of forests in Indigenous landscapes. I hold a Ph.D. in Resources, Environment, and Sustainability from the University of British Columbia and an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Currently at the University of California, San Diego, my research, supported by a. SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship, I continue to explore Indigenous-nature relationships and traditional knowledge systems in South Asia with a focus on wild honeybees, human-wildlife coexistence, cultural fire, and land management.
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Social Sciences Humanities Research Centre (SSHRC) Postdoctoral Fellow
My homepage |
UCSD Undergraduate Students
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Jasmine Hubbard - EBE
Sabine Wood - EBE Flora Xie - Biostatistics |
Trevor Ryan - Biology/Marine Science
Alison Tran - Biology Gabriel Ulfohn - Biology |
Keiki Sunderland - EBE/Literature and writing
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Other Lab Members
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Chithrangani Rathnayake - GIS Analyst
Chithra received her PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) on the relationship between land-use change and human-elephant conflict in Sri Lanka. She is interested in mapping and analysing land cover change using geospatial technologies, as well as the implications for elephant habitats.
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Past Lab Members
Cecilia Ma Li - UC Davis Undergraduate, UC LEADS Summer Scholar (2023)
Carolina Loera - UC Irvine Undergraduate, UC STARS Summer Scholar (2024)
Declan Healy - Summer volunteer (2023)
Sophia Hermosillo-Ramirez - Class of '24
Alyssa Ayan - Class of '24
Carolina Loera - UC Irvine Undergraduate, UC STARS Summer Scholar (2024)
Declan Healy - Summer volunteer (2023)
Sophia Hermosillo-Ramirez - Class of '24
Alyssa Ayan - Class of '24
