CURRENT LAB MEMBERS

Scott Powell (PI) is actively involved in all the work outlined on this site. If you are interested in learning more about our work, or how to join our lab, please e-mail Scott directly.

Laís Mizraim Souza Barros (PhD Student) is working on the evolution and ecology of the New World army ant genus Neivamyrmex.

Scarlett Reis Epifanio (PhD Student) is working on how differnt forms of competition shape trait evolution and community assembly in turtle ants.

James Clark (MS Student) is working on the evolution of male and female body size in turtle ants.

Lucille Martin (Undergraduate Thesis Student) is working on the evolution of the depressus clade of the turtle ants, with respect to the wet forest / cerrado transition.

Talbot de St. Aubin (Undergraduate Thesis Student) is working on the evolution of worker and soldier morphological disparity in the pinelii clade of the turtle ants.

CURRENT COLLABORATORS

Our current collaborators include all the good people we are actively working with on funded projects and manuscripts. They also include many excellent student and postdoc collaborators in the respective labs of these PIs.

Fabricio Baccaro, Universidade Federal do Amazonas. Webpage Link

Matina Donaldson-Matasci, Harvey Mudd College. Webpage Link.

Rodrigo Feitosa, Universidade Federal do Paraná. Webpage Link.

Cody Kent, Frostburg State University. Webpage Link

Daniel Kronauer, Rockefeller University. Webpage Link.

Corrie Moreau, Cornell University. Webpage Link.

Ted Schultz, National Museum of Natural History. Webpage Link

Frederico de Siqueira Neves, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais. Webpage Link.

Elva Robinson, York University Webpage Link.

Jacob Russell, Drexel University. Webpage Link.

John Wertz, Calvin College. Webpage Link.

LAB ALUMNI

Postdoctoral Researchers

Shauna Price was a long-time collaborator and lab postdoc working on turtle ant diversification.

Flávio Camarota was a long-time grad student collaborator and lab postdoc working on community assembly and trait mediated species interactions using the arboreal ant community of the Brazilian cerrado. Flávio remains an importnat collaborator for the lab.

Fred Larabee was a postdoc working on an NSF Post-Doctoral Fellow and co-advised by Scott and Ted Schultz at the NMNH. Fred is broadly interested in the evolution and functional morphology of ants, with a special interest in the mandibles of trap-jaw ants and fungus-gardening ants.

Benjamin "Max" Adams was a postdoc working on turtle ant nesting networks with Cephalotes varians and other arboreal ants in the Florida Keys. Max is broadly interested in assembly and coexistence in arboreal ant communities.

Graduate Students

J. Aidan Manubay successfully defended his PhD in Spring 2019. His dissertation work addressed the chemical ecology of prey detection in New World army ants.

Jignasha Rana successfully defended her PhD in Fall 2022. Her dissertation work addressed cryptic diversify in geographically widespread lineages, using an especially widespread species group of the turtle ants. E-Mail & Twitter

Jackie Fiore successfully defended her MS thesis in Spring 2023. Her work examined community structuring with respect to resource availability in the acorn-dwelling ant community of mid-Atlantic oak forest.

Melody Weber successfully defended her MS thesis in Spring 2023. Her work addressed the diversity of arboreal arthropods that occupy beetle-produced cavities in the hammock forest habitat of the Florida Keys.

Undergraduate Thesis & Summer Fellowship Students

Kristen Kozmary worked on inter-colony conflict in the acorn-dwelling ant Temnothorax curvispinosus for her undergraduate research. Kristen graduated from GW with Research Honors in 2014.

Rebecca Prather worked on mechanisms of community assembly in acorn-dwelling ants for her undergraduate research. Rebecca was a Univeristy Research Fellow, Luther Rice Research Fellow, Harlan Fellow, and graduated from GW with Research Honors in 2015.

Philip Horowitz worked on ant diversity patterns across oak forest and marsh habitats for his undergraduate research. Philip graduated from GW as a Harlan Fellow in 2015.

Paulina Kriska worked on our ongoing efforts to understand turtle ant lineage diversification for her undergraduate research. Paulina graduated from GW with Research Honors in 2015.

Sofia Nicholas was an undergraduate student that worked on the social transmission of the microbiome of turtle ants, but moved on to complete her degree at a different university in 2017.

Christine Favorito worked on the evolution and ecology of soldier head shape in turtle ants for her undergraduate research. Christine graduated from GW as a Harlan Fellow in 2018.

Corinne Tarantino worked on the foraging performance of turtle ant workers in different ecological contexts for her undergraduate research. Corinne was a Univeristy Research Fellow, Luther Rice Research Fellow, Harlan Fellow and graduated with Research Honors in Fall 2019

Kayla Yee worked on the evolution of defensive armor in the worker and soldier castes of turtle ants for her undergraduate research. Kayla graduated with Research Honors in Fall 2019 and won the departmental prize for best undergraduate honors thesis.

PAST COLLABORATORS

To see a list of the excellent people we have had an opportunity to work with in the past, please check out our list of publications.