Research Interests

Biological vascular networks; scaling for individual, population, and community processes; effects of climate change; cancer; sleep times; organization and constraint of diversity

Mathematics Asymptotics; partial differential equations; stochastic processes; optimization; models of fractal and asymmetric branching networks; diffusion-reaction equations; Navier-Stokes equations; Lotka-Volterra-type equations; moment-closure and variational methods

Education 

1996-2001: Ph.D in Physics, Washington University at St. Louis, MO, "Analytical and numerical methods for studying PT-symmetric but non-Hermitian Hamiltonians", Carl Bender (Advisor)

1996-1999: A.M. in Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO,
1992-1996: B.S. in Physics, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

Professional Experience 

2010 - Present: External Faculty, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM
2010 - Present: Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
2009 - Present: Assistant Professor, Biomathematics Department, University of California at Los Angeles, CA
2006-2008: Instructor, Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
2004-2006: Systems Biology Postdoctoral Fellow, Bauer Center for Genomics Research, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2001-2004: Joint Postdoctoral Fellow, The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM & Particles and Fields Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
1997-2001: Graduate Research Assistantship, Quantum Field Theory DOE grant, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 

Grants and Awards 

2010 - 2013: NSF-Population and Community Ecology Grant, "Understanding the temperature dependence of consumer-resource interactions", $407,000 (PI)
2011 - 2012: UC Mexus-Conayct, “Systematic Analysis of Genetic Interactions Underlying Aging in Yeast,” $25,000 (PI)
2009 - 2011: Australian Research Council (ARC)-Discovery Projects, "Predicting biodiversity from population dynamics", $225,000 (co-PI).
2008-2011: NSF-Advancing Theory in Biology Grant, “Combining theories for plant architecture, allometry, and traits to develop the next generation of scaling theory,” $737,521 (co-PI)
2008: ARC-NZ Workshop for Vegetation Function "WG36 Trait-Based Models", approximately $25,000-$30,000, (PI and Organizer)
2006-2008: NSF-Ecology Grant, "Trait-based approaches for predicting ecosystem response to environmental change: Empirical tests and model development", $109,274, (listed as Senior Personnel but served role of co-PI because of my academic status)
2000: NSF Physics Graduate Fellowship, The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM

Popular Press Coverage 

• AmNat Press Release, "Are tropical species more prone to extinction due to climate warming?", 2012,  http://www.asnamnat.org/node/197
•   PNAS From the Cover, "Variation in universal temperature dependence of biological rates", 2011, PNAS, 108(26), 10377-10378.
•   Nature News and Views, "Physiology: There is no single p", highlightinh of paper on curvature in metabolic scaling of mammals, Nature 461: 691-693. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v464/n7289/full/464691a.html
•   The Edge World Question Center, "What are you optimistic about (for 2007)?", Steven Strogatz, Cornell University Professor, describes my work on sleep and says it is what he is most optimistic about for the new year. http://www.edge.org/q2007/q07_14.html
•   Harvard Gazette, "Sleep found to repair and reorganize the brain", cover article describing my recent work on sleep and cell size. http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/03.15/01-sleepsize.html
•  Thomson Scientific's Essential Science Indicators, feature on my work and entry into top 1% of   scientists in environment and ecology in terms of citations, appearing in December 2007. http://in-cites.com/scientists/2007menu.html 
•   Science Daily, "Species sizes affect lives of cells in mammals", highlight of paper on organismal constraints on cell size and cellular metabolic rate. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070308220603.htm
•   PNAS In This Issue, "Geometry of vascular systems governs plant forms", highlighting of paper on selective pressures on plant architectures, PNAS 104 12952

Invited Presentations

Biology Talks  

• Invited Speaker, "Effects of size ratios and dimensionality on consumer-resource interactions",  Brown2Fest in honor of James and Astrid Brown's retirement, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 2012
• Workshop Speaker, "Current perspectives on biological networks and what leaves might teach us", The Ecology and Evolution of Leaf Vein Networks, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia 2011
• Seminar Speaker, "Influence of temperature, size, and dimensionality on consumer-resource interactions", Department of Ecology, Baheavior, and Evolution Seminar Series, University of California, San Diego, CA 2011
• Invited Speaker, "Basic science of global warming and climate change", Connect to Science, Portland and Beaverton School Districts along with Portland State University, Portland, OR 2011 
• Seminar Speaker, "Understanding how consumption rate and interaction strengths change with search strategy, body size, and temperature", Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 2011
• Session Speaker, "An analytical model of tumor growth and angiogenesis that links together cellular energetics and host vasculature", Casablanca Workshop on Mathematical Biology, Casablanca, Morocco 2011
• Workshop Speaker, "Quantiative models for how organismal traits and environmental drivers influence consumer-resource pairs, trophic interaction strengths, and food webs", Casablanca Workshop on Mathematical Biology, Casablanca, Morocco 2011
• Contributing Speaker, "How do organismal traits and environmental factors constrain trophic interactions strengths?", Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Seminar Series, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, CA 2011
• Seminar Speaker, "The temperature dependence of consumer-resource interactions", Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Austin, TX 2011
• Plenary Speaker, "Using vascular networks to understand biological scaling, sleep, and tumor growth", Young Researchers in Mathematical Biology, Matheamatical Biosciences Institute, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2010
• Discussion Leader, Gordon Research Conference on the Metabolic Basis of Ecology, "A metabolic trait basis for ecology/evolution", University of New England, Biddeford, ME 2010
• Poster Presentation, Gordon Research Conference on the Metabolic Basis of Ecology, "Hydraulic tradeoffs and space filling enable better prediction of structure and function in plants", University of New England, Biddeford, ME 2010
• Invited Speaker, "An introduction to biological scaling: Empirical trends and mechanistic models", Bioonformatics Seminar Series, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 2010
• Invited Speaker, "Modeling speciation-extinction dynamics to better understand biodiversity levels", Darwin's Living Legacy: An International Conference on Evolution and Society, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt 2010
• Colloquium Speaker, "Biological scaling of sleep times and tumor angiogenesis and growth" Biomathematics Annual Plenary Speaker, Kenyon College, Gambler, OH 2009
• Seminar Speaker, "Linking temperature, metabolic rate, and ecological dynamics", Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 2009
• Colloquium Speaker, "Using models of vascular networks to understand biological scaling within individuals and across species", Physics Seminar Series, California State University at Northridge (CSUN), Los Angeles, CA 2009
• Colloquium Speaker, "Power laws, fractals, and the structure and dynamics of vascular systems", Nanomedicine Seminar Series, Tarzana Hospital, Los Angeles, CA 2009
• Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling in vascular networks and applications to tumor angiogenesis and growth", Biomathemaics Seminar Series, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 2009
• Invited Speaker, "Scaling in vascular systems with applications to tumore growth", UCLA Cardiology Group, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 2009
• Colloquium Speaker, "Allometric scaling and physiological networks", Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 2008
• Invited Speaker, SIAM conference on the Life Sciences, MS4: Investigating neural mechanisms of sleep and anesthesia through modeling, "A quantitative, metabolic theory of mammalian sleep", Montreal, Quebec, Canada 2008
• Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conference on the Metabolic Basis of Ecology, "Modeling and measuring ecological diversity: moving from individual physiology to interactions and the environment", University of New England, Biddeford, ME 2008
• Speaker and Organizer, "WG 36 trait-driver models", ARC-NZ Vegetation Function Network, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "Understanding and managing change from ecosystems and the environment to the economy and education", Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "New models for understanding physiological and ecological systems", New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "Linking individuals with ecosystems", Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "Modeling and measuring ecological diversity and organization", Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "Linking individuals with ecosystems: New mathematical methods for studying physiological and ecological systems", University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "Linking individuals with ecosystems: New models for understanding physiological and ecological systems", University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "New mathematical methods for studying physiological and ecological systems", North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 2008
• Colloquium Speaker, "Modeling and measuring ecological diversity", Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 2007
• Seminar Speaker, "A quantitative, metabolic theory for mammalian sleep", Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston MA 2007
• Seminar Speaker, "A quantitative theory of tumor growth and vascularization", Center for Cancer Systems Biology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Boston MA 2007
• Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling from unicells to whales: New methods for studying physiological and ecological systems", University of Washington, Seattle, WA 20
• Invited Speaker, PIBBS Seminar, "Biological scaling and climate change: Effects of temperature on population growth, species interactions, and rates of adaptation", University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 2007
• Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling in biology", Rhodes College, Memphis, TN 2007
• Seminar Speaker, "Scaling and biological networks", Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
• Poster Presentation, Gordon Research Conference on the Metabolic Basis of Ecology, "Cold-blooded killers: Effects of body size and temperature on predator-prey relations", Bates College, Lewiston, ME 2006
• Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling from unicells to whales", Washington State University, Pullman, WA 2006
• Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling from unicells to whales: constraints on evolution and development", University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS 2005
• Invited Speaker, Physics and Complex Systems Seminar, "Scaling in biology", Chalmers University, Gothenburg, Sweden, 2005.
• Colloquium Speaker, "Scaling in biology: A unifying approach to cells, individuals, and Ecosystems", James Cook University, Townsville, Australia, 2005.
• Invited Speaker and Participant, Vascular Design A: Working meeting of the ARC-NZ Research Network for Vegetation Function, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, 2005.
• Invited Speaker, Gordon Research Conference, "The Allometry of Stoichiometry", Bates College, ME, 2004.
• Plenary Speaker, Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Symposium, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 2004
• Colloquium Speaker, PRIMES program (joint between biology, engineering, and math departments), "Resource-distribution networks and biochemical kinetics",  Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 2003
• Symposium Speaker, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Effects of body size and temperature on population growth", Savannah, GA, 2003
• Invited Speaker, Santa Fe Institute workshop: Towards an ecology based on first principles of size, temperature, and stoichiometry, "Effects of size and temperature on population growth", Santa Fe, NM, 2002
• Invited Speaker, Biology Seminar, "Scaling in populations and ecosystems", University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 2002

Physics Talks

• Invited Speaker, International workshop on non-Hermitian Hamiltonians, "PT–symmetric quantum field theories and the Langevin equation", Prague, Czech Republic, 2003.
• Invited Speaker, Physics Theory Seminar, "Numerical simulations of PT–symmetric but non-Hermitian Hamiltonians", Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2002

Teaching Experience 

• Professor, The structure, function, and evolution of biological systems, sole designer, creator, teacher, and grader for graduate course on evolutionary theory, network structure and motifs, network dynamics, stochastic modeling, power laws in networks, and other techniques that are useful for modeling and understanding biological systems, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 2010-present (Student Evaluations: >9/10; avail. upon request)
• Professor, Modeling vacular networks with applications, sole designer, creator, teacher, and grader for graduate course on fluid dynamics, fractals, RLC circuit models, and other techniques for modeling and understanding vascular systems, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 2009-present (Student Evaluations: >9/10; available upon request)
• Professor, Mathematical Ecology, EEB 200B, designed and taught sections on community ecology, including homework and presentation assignments at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2011
• Faculty, Exploring complexity in science and technology from a Santa Fe Institute perspective, lectured on network structure, dynamics, and power laws in biological systems, social systems, economics, and energy technology, Portland, OR 2010
• Guest Lecturer, Elements of Biomathematics, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 2010 
• Guest Lecturer, Circadian Biology: From cellular oscillators to sleep regulation, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2008
• Faculty, Santa Fe Institute Complex Systems Summer School, lectured on mathematical methods, including scaling theory, diffusion equations, probability and statistics, data analysis, and coupled ordinary and partial differential equations for studying systems in ecology, evolution, physiology, physics, medicine, and economics, Santa Fe, NM,  2007
• Faculty, Santa Fe Institute Complex Systems Summer School, Beijing, China, 2005-2007 
• Faculty, Integrative Biology Course Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics, lectured on scaling methods for studying biological systems Patzcuaro, Mexico, 2006
• Faculty, Complex Systems School, joint between the Indian Institute for Mathematical Sciences and the Santa Fe Institute, Chennai, India, 2006
• Guest Lecturer, Introductory Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, University College, 1998, and Summer, 2001
• Teaching Assistant, Epic of Evolution (joint course between Physics, Biology, and Earth and Planetary Sciences Departments), provided solution sets, helped with in-class demonstrations and assigning of final grades, and graded, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2000
• Teaching Assistant, Mathematical Methods in Physics and Advanced Mathematical Methods in Physics, made solution sets and graded, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1998-1999
• Teaching Assistant, Physics and Society, provided solution sets, held office hours, helped assign final grades, and graded, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1998
• Teaching Assistant, Introductory Physics, taught 3 lab sections per week, assigned final lab grades, one of 4 out of 12 TAs to hold office hours, and graded, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1996-1998 
• Teaching Assistant, Intermediate Lab, guided students through experiments, helped assign final grades, and graded, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 1994-1995

Committees and Professional Service 

• Panel member, EPA STAR Graduate Student Applications for EPA-F2012-STAR-B2 Air, Climate & Energy: Global Change (B2), 2012
• Grant Reviewer for University of Missouri’s Research Board, 2012
• Reviewer of applications for the Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 2010, 2012.
• Biological Sciences Faculty Panel member, part of Honors Research Forum (HC-101A) class at UCLA to promote research for undergraduates, 2012
• Advisor in Workshop on Writing a Personal Statement, part of Honors Research Forum (HC-101A) class at UCLA to promote research for undergraduates, 2012 
• Organizer, Simplicity, Complexity, and Unity: A search for underlying, quantitative principles in physics, biology, and the social sciences, symposium speakers included Murray Gell-Mann, Jim Brown, Elaine Pagels, Brian Enquist, David Krakauer, and others, Santa Fe Institute, 2011 http://www.santafe.edu/research/videos/catalog/?page=12 
• Co-chair, Graduate Admissions Committee, Department of Biomathematics, UCLA School of Medicine 2009-present
• Seminar Series Organizer, Department of Biomathematics, UCLA School of Medicine, 2009-present
• Guest Editor for Public Library of Science, 2010-2011
• Participant and poster judge, UC LEADS Research and Leadership Symposium (http://www.ucop.edu/ucleads/), UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 2011. 
• Participant, UC Edge: Graduate Recruitment Day, 2009
• External Grant Reviewer for National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for biomathematics groups on Manduca Sexta, Kenyon College, Gambler, OH 2009

Referee—Numbers in parentheses denote articles reviewed for that journal in 2011:

• Science (1)
• Nature (1)
• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (3)
• Physical Review Letters (1)
• Trends in Ecology and Evolution
• The American Naturalist (2)
• Ecology Letters (2),  
• Functional Ecology (1)
• Journal of Experimental Biology
• Proceedings of the Royal Society A 
• Proceedings of the Royal Society B (1)
• Journal of the Royal Society Interface (2)
• British Journal of Cancer
• Computers in Biology and Medicine (1)
• Physics in Medicine and Biology
• Comprehensive Physiology (1)
• Oikos (3)
• Journal of Animal Ecology
• Journal of Theoretical Biology
• Tree Physiology
• New Phytologist (1)
• Global Ecology and Biogeography (1)
• Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences (1)
• Integrative Zoology
• Journal of Physics A: Mathematics and General
• Journal of Mathematical Physics
• Physics Letters A
• International Journal of Modern Physics Letters, Ecology and Society
• Acta Oecologia
• Journal of Animal Ecology  

• Consultant to David Malakoff for ScienceNow, 2008
• Grant Reviewer for National Science Foundation (NSF), 2006
•  Grant Reviewer for the City University of New York System, 2007
•  Member of Selection Committee for the Complex Systems Summer School at the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 2002-2006
• Member of Teaching Assistant Committee, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 2000
• Graduate Council Representative and Student Government Senator, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, 1998-2000
• Chair of Academic Affairs Committee, Along with two others, I wrote a 40 page report based on our extensive research and dialogue with other colleges that suggested changes to the tenure-review process at Rhodes College. The majority of our suggestions were adopted. Rhodes College, Memphis, TN, 1994-1996

Mentored Postdocs and Students 

• Advisor to Masters student, Mitchell Johnson, Department of Biomathematics, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, 2011. Masters Thesis: “Automated measurements of vessel networks from MRI and comparison to scaling theory” successfully defended.
•  Advising PhD student, Lewis Lee, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, working to model persistors when using drugs on bacteria, 2011-present.
•  Advising MD/PhD student, Kevin Leu, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, working to model transition from proliferative to quiescent to necrotic cells during tumor growth as a function of tumor size, host size, and drug delivery, 2011-present
•  Advisor to postdoctoral researchers, Anthony Dell and Samraat Pawar, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA 2009-present
• Advisor to Kina Winoto, undergraduate in computer science at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2011- present
• Advisor to Sania Pouyanrad, Dalit Yadegaran, and Agafe Saguros, undergraduates in ecology at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2011-present
• Advisor to Janice Chan, undergraduate in ecology at UCLA  Los Angeles, CA, 2010-2011
• Co-Advisor to postdoctoral researcher, Lisa P. Bentley, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 2008-Present
• Member of Doctoral Committee for Maggie Simon, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 2011-present
• Member of Doctoral Committee for Josh Chang, Department of Biomathematics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 2009-present
• Member of Doctoral Committee for Christopher Johnson, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 2009-present
• Advisor to Alex Duncan (undergraduate at Cornell University), summer research intern, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 2008
• Advisor to Alex Herman (currently in MD/PhD program at UCSF), Research Experience for Undergraduates, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 2002-2004

Postdoc and Student Awards and Presentations 

• Undergraduate Research Fellows Program, stipend and workshops awarded to undergraduate Agafe Saguros based on her video-tracking experiments performed in my group, 2012.
• Session Moderator, Session: Evolutionary Processes in Ecological Networks, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, S. Pawar, Austin, TX 2011
• Talk, "A general model for the body size and temperature scaling of consumer-resource interactions", Tupper Seminar, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), S. Pawar, Panama 2011
• Talk, "Consumption rates and trophic interaction strengths are constrained by dimensionality of consumer search space", Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, S. Pawar, Austin, TX 2011
• Poster, "Understanding variation in the temperature dependence of physiological and ecological traits", Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, T. Dell, Austin, TX 2011
• Talk, "The effects of body size and temperature on consumer-resource interactions and population dynamics", UC Santa Barbara EcoLunch, S. Pawar, Santa Barbara, CA 2010
• Presentation, "A general model for the body size and temperature scaling of consumer-resource interactions", Gordon Research Conference, S. Pawar, University of New England, Biddeford, ME 2010
• NSF Bioinformatics Postdoctoral Fellowship, two years of funding for postdoctorals research and money for purchasing equipment equal to to approcimately to $120,000, L. Patrick, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 2009-present
• Poster, "A direct evaluation of plant metabolic scaling theory using empirical measurements of whole-tree branching architecture", Gordon Research Conference, L.P. Bentley, University of New England, Biddeford, ME 2010
• Poster, "A general model for the body size and temperature scaling of consumer-resource interactions", Gordon Research Conference, S. Pawar, University of New England, Biddeford, ME 2010
• Poster, "The allometry of tree water transport and growth: a case study of co-occurring diffuse-and ring-porous species", Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, E. von Allmen, Pittsburgh, PA 2010
• Invited Speaker, "Evaluating metabolic scaling assumptions of tree branching networks", L. Patrick Bentley, Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM 2009
• Poster, "Evaluating the structure and allometry of plant vascular systems to scale plant carbon flux", Biospehere 2 Symposium, L. Patrick Bentley, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 2009

References 

•  Geoffrey B. West
   President of the Santa Fe Institute
   Senior Laboratory Fellow, Los Alamos National Laboratory
  
   Santa Fe Institute
   Santa Fe, NM 87501
  
   Telephone: 505-667-5382
   E-mail: gbw@lanl.gov
  
   Geoff is frequently traveling, so it is often best to contact his assistant at: dlu@santafe.edu

•    James H. Brown
     Distinguished Professor
     Member of National Academy of Sciences
  
     Biology Department
     University of New Mexico
     Albuquerque, NM 87131
  
     Telephone: 505-277-9337
     E-mail: jhbrown@unm.edu
  
     Jim is frequently traveling, so it is often best to contact his assistant at: shannon@unm.edu

•    Joel E. Cohen
     Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor
  
     Rockefeller University
     New York City, NY 10021
  
     E-mail: cohen@mail.rockefeller.edu

•    Brian Enquist
     Professor
  
     Department Of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
     University of Arizona
     Tucson, AZ 85721
  
     E-mail: benquist@email.uarizona.edu

•     Walter Fontana
      Professor
  
      Department of Systems Biology
      Harvard Medical School
      Boston, MA 02115
  
      E-mail: walter@hms.harvard.edu

•    Eric. L. Charnov
     Distinguished Professor
  
     Biology Department
     University of New Mexico
     Albuquerque, NM 87131
  
     E-mail: rlc@unm.edu