PI: Amy Lu
Amy Lu is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, Associate Co-director of the Simien Mountains Gelada Research Project in Ethiopia, and co-director of the Kaludiyapokuna Primate Conservation and Research Project in Sri Lanka. She is broadly interested in developmental plasticity, behavioral endocrinology, reproductive physiology, sexual selection, and life history in non-human primates. As a graduate student, she studied how ecological and social factors influenced female reproduction and mating strategies in wild Phayre’s leaf monkeys (Trachypithecus crepusculus phayrei). After finishing her Ph.D. in 2009 (Stony Brook University, advised by Dr. Carola Borries), she obtained postdoctoral positions, first at the University of Michigan (advised by Dr. Jacinta Beehner) and then at the University of Illinois. During those years, she developed an interest in developmental plasticity, particularly in response to early life stress and maternal behavior. Since then, she has actively engaged in research projects focusing on how ecological and social adversity impacts maternal investment and offspring phenotype in wild and captive primate populations.
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In Amy’s spare time, she juggles two young kids, two geriatric dogs, sleeping early enough to get up at 6am to go to the gym, and finding time to relax. It's a work in progress.
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Post-docs
India Schneider-Crease is an NSF postdoctoral researcher working in the labs of Dr. Amy Lu at Stony Brook University and Dr. Noah Snyder-Mackler at the University of Washington. She is interested in the social and ecological components of immunity and disease susceptibility, and in understanding infectious disease as an evolutionary driver in primates. India completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Charlie Nunn and Dr. Leslie Digby at Duke University (2017) on tapeworm parasitism in geladas in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia, and is currently working in the same gelada population to evaluate the role of the early life environment on immune development. Beyond academics, India is involved in community-based conservation work in Ethiopia and likes to climb rocks and track spotted hyenas whenever possible.
Alice Baniel is an NSF postdoctoral researcher working in the labs of Dr. Amy Lu at Stony Brook University and Dr. Noah Snyder-Mackler at the University of Washington. She is broadly interested in developmental plasticity, parental care, life history strategies and sexual selection in primates. She is currently working on the causes and consequences of premature weaning in wild geladas, investigating in particular the link between early life condition and gut microbial composition. Alice completed her PhD in 2016 under the supervision of Dr. Elise Huchard and Dr. Guy Cowlishaw at the University of Montpellier, France. Her dissertation focused on the determinants and evolutionary consequences of inter- and intrasexual conflicts over reproduction in wild chacma baboons living in the Namib desert. She was then a Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study in Toulouse (IAST) working on sexual violence in humans. During her free time, Alice likes to hike, do some kayaking and pottery.
Graduate students
Evelyn Pain is a Ph.D. candidate in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University, advised by Dr. Andreas Koenig. Her dissertation research focuses on how male-male competition among woolly monkeys (Lagothrix poeppigii) is affected by intrasexual morphological and hormonal variation. This project combines behavioral observation and the non-invasive collection of photogrammetric measurements and hormone samples from wild woolly monkeys. Data for this project was collected at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Yasuní, Ecuador as part of an ongoing research project on New World primates conducted by Dr. Anthony Di Fiore from the University of Texas at Austin. She is also conducting a project habituating and monitoring yellow-tailed woolly monkeys (Lagothrix flavicauda) in collaboration with the non-profit Yunkawasi and the local community of Corosha in Peru. More broadly, Evelyn’s research interests include behavioral endocrinology and intrasexual competition. A link to Evelyn’s personal website can be found here. A link to Evelyn’s CV can be found here.
Jacob Feder is a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences (IDPAS) at Stony Brook University, advised by Amy Lu. In 2015, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Music from Wesleyan University, where he participated in field entomology research on the effects of insect mutualisms. His research interests concern the development of social behavior, with specific reference to the effects of parity on the formation of relationships and social independence from mother. A link to Jacob’s CV can be found here.
Rachel Perlman is a Ph.D candidate in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University. She is broadly interested in sexual selection, behavioral endocrinology, and the evolution of primate mating strategies. Her research is focused on reproductive ecology and the physiological processes underlying mechanisms of reproductive competition. For her dissertation, she is examining the role of energetics in male reproductive strategies in geladas as part of the Gelada Research Project. Her research combines behavioral observations of geladas in the field with non-invasive hormone sampling and radioimmunoassays in the lab. When she’s not sitting in front of her computer or chasing monkeys in the highlands of Ethiopia, Rachel enjoys playing with her pet ferret, Dexter. You can read more on Rachel’s personal website here. A link to Rachel’s CV can be found here.
Undergraduates
Alumni
Laura Morrissey is a research assistant for the Gelada Research Project where she specializes in collecting fecal samples and behavioral data from infants and their associated mothers. She is a recent graduate of Stony Brook University where she obtained a B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Neuroscience and a B.S. in Human Evolutionary Biology. In addition, Laura completed an undergraduate thesis with Dr. Amy Lu that looked at the effect of parity on maternal investment in geladas. Prior to being a research assistant, Laura spent a few months in Kenya as a Turkana Basin teaching assistant. In her spare time, Laura likes to play volleyball, soccer and go horseback riding.
Richard Liang graduated with a double major in Biology and Anthropology at Stony Brook University in 2018. He assisted the graduate students in the endocrinology lab with their research, worked in the digital photogrammetry lab and was also the webmaster for this site. Additionally, he volunteers at the Stony Brook Hospital and interns at the Stony Brook Primary Care Center. After he graduates, he plans on attending medical school to obtain his M.D. He enjoys biking and making origami during his free time.
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Lauren Petrullo received her PhD in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University in 2020. She is currently an NSF Biology Postdoctoral Fellow with Ben Dantzer at the University of Michigan, and she will be starting a tenure-track faculty position in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Arizona. Her research is centered on the proximate mechanisms driving phenotypic variation during development and aims to investigate the potential adaptive value of developmental plasticity by combining both proximate and evolutionary approaches within a life history framework. Lauren's research subjects include captive vervet monkeys and wild squirrels in the Yukon. When she's not in the lab, Lauren is likely running, cooking, playing with her dogs, or rescuing other dogs. Lauren’s website can be found here.
Rachel Perlman received her Ph.D in the Interdepartmental Doctoral Program in Anthropological Sciences at Stony Brook University in 2021. Her research is focused on reproductive ecology and the physiological processes underlying mechanisms of reproductive competition. For her dissertation, she examined the role of energetics in male reproductive strategies in geladas as part of the Gelada Research Project. Her research combines behavioral observations of geladas in the field with non-invasive hormone sampling and radioimmunoassays in the lab. When she’s not sitting in front of her computer or chasing monkeys in the highlands of Ethiopia, Rachel enjoys playing with her pet ferret, Dexter. You can read more on Rachel’s personal website here. A link to Rachel’s CV can be found here.
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