Damian Octavio Elias

Position: Professor
Elias received his B.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona followed by a Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Behavior from Cornell University.

Malcolm Rosenthal

Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Rosenthal is interested in animal behavior, mate choice, and the evolution of complex communication systems. He has a BA from Oberlin College and a PhD from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he studied how environmental variability influences courtship behavior in wolf spiders. His current projects include looking at how spiderweb geometry affects the transmission of vibrations, and how changes in the environment affect mate choice decisions in female spiders. 

Ambika Kamath

Position: Postdoctoral Fellow
Kamath is broadly interested in the consequences of individual variation in behavior for the ecological and evolutionary trajectories of populations and species. She has an A.B. from Amherst College and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. She studies how animals use and move through the spaces they occupy, and their ensuing interactions with other individuals and particular habitats, as a window into understanding their behavioral ecology.  

Maggie Raboin

Position: Graduate Student
Raboin is interested in animal behavior and evolution, specifically in spiders. She received her BSc from the University of Montana where she studied wildlife biology. She is studying mason spiders, a new species of spider in the genus Castianeira. She is studying mound building behavior, the effects anthropogenic noise on behavior, and impacts of climate change on survival

Trinity Walls

Position: Graduate Student
Walls is interested in spider behavior, sexual selection, and communication. She received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and her M.S. from the University of Cincinnati where she researched personality and sexual selection in wolf spiders.  

Undergraduates