Mentors

For research mentors:

Staff affiliated with the Cornell Lab and the CUMV are eligible to apply for funding to support your efforts to provide opportunities for undergraduate students. Follow the links to learn more about funding for Cornell undergraduate students: Experiential Learning Grants, Student Employment Funds, Student Research Funds, Student Conference Travel Awards, and Training Expedition Funding. For graduate student funding, see the Research Funding section under the graduate student tab.

For students:

If you are looking to become involved in independent research, it is important to find a research mentor who has the time to provide quality mentoring and whose expertise aligns well with your interests. Whether you are looking to learn how to analyze existing datasets (e.g., eBird, FeederWatch, NestWatch, bioacoustics data) or to go into the field and collect your own data, connecting with the right mentor will be key to your success. Finding that mentor is often the first big challenge. Be bold. Reach out to faculty, research staff, postdocs, and graduate students to seek advice. Persistence is often important, as is doing your homework before connecting with a potential mentor. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the research conducted by the potential mentor and other students and postdocs in their lab group. Demonstrate that you have done some background work. Sending a generic email that says, “hey, I’m interested in studying birds” will generally not work. Know that mentors have many responsibilities competing for their time, so you’ll need to stand out to be noticed. It is a good idea to seek advice from more experienced students or your professors; they may point you towards the ideal opportunity. Be persistent, and get started early.

Below is a list of Lab and CUMV staff who often work with students in various capacities. For faculty and staff who can serve as advisors for graduate students, see Prospective Graduate Students under the Graduate tab.

NameLab CenterInterests
Robyn BaileyEngagement in Science and NatureNestWatch program administration, nest survival, wildlife management, nest box design, cavity-nesting birds
Sara BarkerCenter for Avian Population StudiesBird conservation, land conservation, land trusts, habitat management, collaborative partnerships
Chelsea BensonEngagement in Science and NatureEducation, outreach, public engagement, volunteer management, interpretation
Jordan BoersmaMacaulay LibraryBehavior, physiology, ecology, sexual selection, conservation
David BonterEngagement in Science and NatureParticipatory science, field ornithology, avian ecology
Léa BouffautK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsMarine bioacoustics; distributed acoustic sensing; machine learning; signal processing; whale sounds
Victor de BritoBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationNatural history collections, fish evolution, comparative biology
Bronwyn ButcherBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationGenomics, molecular lab techniques and training, molecular biology
Leonardo CampagnaBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationGenomics, speciation, hybridization, phylogeography
Marta del CampoEngagement in Science and NatureLatin American and Caribbean Educational and Outreach Initiatives, Educational materials development
Patrick ChaoprichaK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsElectronics hardware and firmware/software design
Gemma ClucasBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationAvian diets, DNA metabarcoding, seabirds, conservation, fisheries management
Courtney DavisCenter for Avian Population StudiesBiodiversity monitoring, statistical modeling, conservation
Andre DhondtCenter for Avian Population StudiesEcology behavior disease ecology
Casey DillmanBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationEvolution, systematics, genomics, phenomics, museums
Jillian DitnerAdvancementDesign, illustration, science communication
Adriaan DokterCenter for Avian Population StudiesBird migration, radar aeroecology, population dynamics, movement ecology
Iain DownieCenter for Avian Population StudiesCitizen science, mobile, android, apps, data
Kylee DunhamCenter for Avian Population StudiesApplied quantitative ecology, conservation biology
Wendy ErbK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsBioacoustics, primatology, Indonesia, tropical forest conservation, passive acoustic monitoring, community-led research
Mary Margaret FerraroBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationNatural history collections management
Daniel FinkCenter for Avian Population StudiesSpecies distributions, population monitoring, statistical & machine learning, AI  
Ben GottesmanK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsSoundscapes, bioacoustics, freshwater, Belize, forest conservation
Kathryn GrabensteinBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationHybridization, genomics, human change, chickadees, citizen science
Emma GreigEngagement in Science and NatureDesert ecology, fieldwork, verdin, training expeditions
Leanne GrievesMacaulay LibraryBehaviour, chemical ecology, communication, mate choice, microbial ecology, molecular genetics, sexual selection
Daniela HedwigK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsThe Elephant Listening Project, bioacoustics, African forest elephants, tropical forest conservation, passive acoustic monitoring
Sara KaiserBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationAvian ecology, animal behavior, climate change, migratory songbirds, reproductive strategies
Brooke KeeneyBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationBirds of the World, scientific writing, editing, media, natural history, digital publishing
Sarah KhalilBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationPlumage color, hybridization, genomics, transcriptomics, and physiology
Lisa KoppEngagement in Science and NatureInformal education, museums, science communication, exhibits,
Susan LicherEngagement in Science and NatureProfessional development, outreach, curricula development
Irby LovetteBiodiversity Studies and Higher Education Avian evolution, ecology, and genomics
Jay McGowanMacaulay LibraryRecording, sounds, photos, media, Merlin
Eliot MillerCenter for Avian Population StudiesEvolution, ecology, species interactions
Will MorrisCenter for Avian Population StudiesUser interface design, mobile app design, mobile app development, web design, web development
Tina PhillipsEngagement in Science and NatureSocial science, human behavior, conservation outcomes
Vijay RameshK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsBirds, Bioacoustics, Community Ecology, Elevational Gradients, Bird Song
Orin RobinsonCenter for Avian Population StudieseBird, quantitative ecology, population dynamics, conservation, wildlife management
Amanda RodewaldCenter for Avian Population StudiesEcology, conservation biology, socio-ecological systems
Becca Rodomsky-BishEngagement in Science and NaturePublic outreach, behavior change, participatory science, creating habitat, historical data, Zooniverse
Vanya RohwerBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationNests, feather quality, ecology, field work, natural history collections
Carolyn Sedgwick-LudwinAdvancementPhilanthropy, land conservation, conservation planning, partnership-building
Glenn F. SeeholzerMacaulay LibraryNeotropical ornithology, research collections, sound recording, bioacoustics, biogeography
Nicholas SlyBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationEditing writing life-history taxonomy communications
Alli SmithMacaulay LibraryCommunity engagement, environmental education, Merlin
Andrew StillmanCenter for Avian Population StudiesConservation, eBird, quantitative ecology
Larissa Sayuri Moreira SugaiK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsTropical ecology, ecological communities, Anurans, Pantanal, bioacoustics
Laurel SymesK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsBioacoustics, entomology, tropical biology, passive acoustic monitoring, migratory birds
Alexander TedeschiCenter for Avian Population StudiesGIS, R, Python, SQL, spatial data science, data engineering, data science, ML
Mya ThompsonEngagement in Science and NatureOnline learning, engagement, science communication
Maren VitousekBiodiversity Studies and Higher Education Evolution, behavior, physiology
Sarah WagnerEngagement in Science and NatureScience education, outreach, communication
Jen WalshBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationGenomics, bioinformatics, hybridization, local adaptation
Drew WeberMacaulay LibraryMachine learning, mobile app development, mobile app design, project management, bird id content management
Mike WebsterMacaulay LibraryAnimal behavior, communication, sexual selection
Jessie WilliamsonBiodiversity Studies and Higher EducationEvolution, ecology, physiology, elevational migration, genomics, Andes
Chris WoodCenter for Avian Population StudieseBird, computer science
Connor WoodK. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation BioacousticsConservation, community ecology, population monitoring