Rosenberg lab at Stanford University

Lab alumni

[Postdocs] [PhD students] [Master's students]
[Undergraduates] [Other members]

Postdocs

Nicolas Alcala (Oct 2014 - Mar 2017). Nicolas completed his M.Sc. in bioinformatics and modeling at the National Institute of Applied Sciences in Lyon (2010), and his Ph.D. in ecology and evolution at the University of Lausanne (2014). His work in the lab focused on properties of FST and related statistics of population genetics, network approaches in population genetics, conservation genetics, and Bayesian modeling of population dynamics in a conservation setting. Nicolas's work in the lab was supported by a fellowship from the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics and by an Early Postdoc.Mobility Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. After leaving the lab, Nicolas continued as a postdoc at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon.
Bridget Algee-Hewitt (Sep 2013 - Jun 2018). Bridget completed her Ph.D. in biological anthropology at the University of Tennessee (2011). She also holds an M.A. in near eastern and classical archaeology from Bryn Mawr College (2002). In the lab, Bridget's work focused on the intersection of forensic genetics and population genetics. Bridget's work in the lab was supported by a fellowship from the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics. After leaving the lab, Bridget joined the Stanford Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity as a Senior Research Scientist.
Lars Andersen (Sep 2012 - Aug 2013). Lars completed his B.S. in statistics and mathematics (2004), M.Sc. in statistics (2007), and Ph.D. in probability theory (2009), all at the University of Aarhus, where he worked with Søren Asmussen, Asger Hobolth, and Thomas Mailund. In the lab, Lars's research focused on stochastic processes for population genetics, particularly on models of gene trees and species trees and on the coalescent isolation-with-migration model and its applications. Lars's work in the lab was supported by a fellowship from the Villum Foundation. After leaving the lab, Lars joined the Department of Mathematics at the University of Aarhus as Associate Professor.
Airam Blancas (Jan 2019 - Jul 2020). Airam completed her bachelor's degree in mathematics at the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa and her M.S. and Ph.D. in probability and statistics at CIMAT, Centro de Investigación de Matemáticas in Guanajuato. She completed an initial postdoctoral experience at Goethe-Universität Frankfurt. Her work in the lab considered problems of coalescent processes, particularly in relation to gene trees and species trees. After leaving the lab, Airam joined the faculty of the Department of Statistics of the Instituto Technológico Autónomo de México.
Michael Blum (Nov 2005 - Sep 2006). Michael received an M.Sc. in applied mathematics from the University of Grenoble (2002) and a Ph.D. in applied statistics from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble (2005), where he worked with Prof. Olivier Francois. In the lab, his research interests focused on coalescent properties of ancestral lineages, theoretical population genetics, and mathematical models for phylogenetic tree balance. After leaving the lab, Michael began work as a CNRS Associate Scientist in the TIMC-IMAG Laboratory, University of Grenoble.
Erkan Buzbas (Jul 2009 - Aug 2012). Erkan received a B.S. in chemistry (2000) and M.S. in Environmental Sciences (2003) from Bosphorus University, and an M.S. in statistics (2007) and Ph.D. in bioinformatics and computational biology (2009) from the University of Idaho, where he was a student with Prof. Paul Joyce. His research interests in the lab focused on balancing selection models, approximate Bayesian computation, and inference problems in theoretical population genetics. After leaving the lab, Erkan joined the Department of Statistical Science at the University of Idaho as Assistant Professor.
James Degnan (Jul 2007 - Sep 2008). James joined the lab after receiving his B.A. in mathematics and philosophy and Ph.D. in mathematics and statistics (2005) from the University of New Mexico, under the supervision of Prof. Laura Salter Kubatko. In the lab, James's research focused on the mathematics of discordance between gene trees and species trees, species tree inference methods, and statistical methods in human population genetics. After leaving the lab, James started a position as a Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Canterbury. He is now Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of New Mexico (2019).
Filippo Disanto (Nov 2013 - Feb 2017). Filippo completed his M.Sc. degree in mathematics at the University of Siena and his Ph.D. in theoretical computer science jointly between the University of Paris 7 and the University of Siena. Filippo's research interests during his time in the lab focused on combinatorial structures arising from consideration of evolutionary trees. After leaving the lab, Filippo joined the Department of Mathematics at the University of Pisa as a junior faculty member and Rita Levi Montalcini Researcher.
Gili Greenbaum (Sep 2017 - Aug 2020). Gili completed his B.S. in mathematics and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and his M.S. and Ph.D. in population genetics at Ben Gurion University. While in the lab, Gili focused on problems in coalescent theory, conservation genetics, the intersection of population genetics and network theory, and mathematical models in population biology. Upon leaving the lab, he began an assistant professorship in the Department of Ecology, Evolution & Behavior of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Mattias Jakobsson (Sep 2005 - Mar 2008). Mattias received his B.S. in mathematics and biology and his Ph.D. in biology (2005) from Lund University, under the supervision of Prof. Torbjorn Sall. In the lab, Mattias's interests focused on human population genetics, methods for the analysis of population structure, and theoretical properties of founder events and bottlenecks. From 2007-2008, his work was supported by a University of Michigan Center for Genetics in Health and Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship. After leaving the lab, Mattias joined the Department of Evolutionary Biology at Uppsala University as Assistant Professor. He is now Professor of Genetics at Uppsala (2016).
Olga Kamneva (Jul 2013 - Jul 2016). Olga completed her Ph.D. in molecular biology at the University of Wyoming (2013), where she also received a minor in statistics. She had previously completed a diploma degree in bioinformatics from Novosibirsk State University (M.S. equivalent, 2007). Her Ph.D. work examined the origin of genes and biological functions distinctive to a bacterial superphylum, and explored the history of natural selection on these genes. In the lab, Olga's interests focused on phylogenetics in settings with hybridization and on prokaryote bioinformatics, particularly in relation to gene interactions. During 2013-2014, her work was supported by a Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics Postdoctoral Fellowship. After leaving the lab, she joined Affymetrix, Inc. as a Bioinformatics Scientist.
Jaehee Kim (Oct 2015 - Dec 2021). Jaehee completed her B.A. in Physics and Mathematics at Columbia University, and her Ph.D. in Physics at Stanford University. For her Ph.D. work, involving both experiment and theory, she examined the dynamics of a light-induced isomerization of an organic molecule. Jaehee's research interests in the lab spanned many areas, including admixture, assortative mating, dynamical systems in population genetics, forensic genetics, gene drives, statistical methods for relatedness, and mathematical phylogenetics. Upon leaving the lab, she joined the Department of Computational Biology at Cornell University as an Assistant Professor.
Jazlyn Mooney (Sep 2020 - Dec 2021). Jazlyn completed her B.S. in Anthropology in Biology at the University of New Mexico. She completed her Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Her Ph.D. examined runs of homozygosity, identity by descent, demographic history and selection, and population genetics of disease. Jazlyn's research interests in the lab included a variety of topics in population genomics, including the study of deleterious variation, genomic sharing, and admixture. Her time in the lab was supported by a Stanford CEHG fellowship and by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology. After leaving the lab, she joined the Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology at the University of Southern California as Assistant Professor.
Trevor Pemberton (Mar 2008 - Dec 2012). Trevor earned his B.Sc. in molecular genetics (2000) and D.Phil. in biochemistry (2004) from the University of Sussex. He joined the lab after a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Pragna Patel at the University of Southern California. In the lab, Trevor focused on problems connecting patterns of genetic variation to the search for disease genes, on human microsatellite variation, and on the structure and application of genetic variation in the population of India. From 2010-2011, his work was supported by a University of Michigan Center for Genetics in Health and Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship. After leaving the lab, Trevor accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics at the University of Manitoba.
Paul Scheet (Sep 2006 - Jul 2008). Paul received his B.S. in biology from Washington University (1995), his M.S. in statistics from the University of Iowa (2000), and his Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Washington (2006) under the direction of Prof. Matthew Stephens. His research interests in the lab focused on haplotype variation, human population genetics, and genotype imputation methods in diverse human populations. After leaving the lab, Paul began a faculty position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, where he is now Professor and Chair (2019).
Cuong Than (Nov 2009 - Sep 2012). Cuong earned his B.S. in computer science from Hanoi University of Technology (2003) and his M.S. (2008) and Ph.D. (2009) in computer science from Rice University, where he worked with Prof. Luay Nakhleh. His research in the lab focused on algorithms in bioinformatics and phylogenetics, with a particular emphasis on the minimize-deep-coalescences algorithm for species tree inference. After leaving the lab, Cuong continued in his postdoctoral studies at the Faculty of Computer Science, University of Tuebingen, under the supervision of Prof. Daniel Huson. He now works in the software industry (2015).
Lawrence Uricchio, postdoc (May 2015 - Dec 2018). Lawrence received a B.A. in physics from Carleton College, and M.S. degrees in biophysical sciences and computer science from the University of Chicago. He completed his Ph.D. in bioinformatics at the University of California, San Francisco. Lawrence's research in the lab focused on population-genetic models of natural selection, polygenic adaptation, tests for natural selection, and mathematical properties of species tree inference. After his time in the lab, Lawrence joined the labs of Mike Boots and Rebecca Tarvin at the University of California, Berkeley.
Paul Verdu (Sep 2009 - Sep 2012). Paul received his M.S. in genetics from the University of Paris 7 (2005) and his Ph.D. in anthropological genetics at the University of Paris 6 (2009) under the direction of Prof. Evelyne Heyer. Paul's work in the lab examined genetic admixture and demography in a variety of groups, including the population of Cape Verde, Native Americans, and the Pygmy populations of central Africa. He also focused on admixture modeling, human spatial variation, sociogenetics, and the relationship between genetic and linguistic variation. After leaving the lab, Paul began a faculty position as CNRS Associate Scientist at the Museum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris.


PhD students

Ilana Arbisser (Aug 2014 - Dec 2018). Ilana completed her B.A. in biology with a concentration in biological mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests in the lab centered on mathematical problems in coalescent theory and population-genetic statistics. Ilana examined the correlation between the height and length of coalescent trees, evaluating the effect of demographic phenomena on this correlation. She also studied the failure of the population-genetic statistic FST to satisfy the triangle inequality, and properties of a coalescent model with recombination and migration. The title of Ilana's Ph.D. thesis in Ecology and Evolution was "Mathematical investigations into fundamental population genetics statistics and models". After leaving the lab, Ilana began work as a data scientist at Cruise Automation.
Daniel Cotter (Jan 2019 - Sep 2023). Danny received a B.S. in 2018 from Arizona State University, majoring in Biological Sciences (Genetics, Cell and Developmental Biology) and minoring in Mathematics. In the lab, Danny's work is focused on theoretical and human population genetics, particularly in relation to identity by descent, runs of homozygosity, the X chromosome, and the properties of rare and common alleles in samples from multiple populations. Danny's Ph.D. in Genetics, entitled "The effects of relatedness and sex-biased demographic processes on human genetic variation," was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a Stanford CEHG fellowship. (Jan 2019 - present)
Mike DeGiorgio (Apr 2007 - Aug 2011). Mike received his B.S. in mathematics and computer Science from the University of Central Florida (2006) and his M.S. in bioinformatics (2008) and Ph.D. in bioinformatics from the University of Michigan (2011). His research interests in the lab focused on statistical methods for the analysis of human genetic variation, serial founder models for human migrations, and methods for species tree inference in the presence of gene tree discordance. Mike was supported in the lab by a Rackham Graduate School Merit Fellowship and a Genome Science Training Program graduate fellowship. His Ph.D. thesis in Bioinformatics, entitled "Genetic variation and modern human origins," was recognized by the Program in Biomedical Sciences Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Research, and was named honorable mention for the ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award. After leaving the lab, Mike joined the lab of Rasmus Nielsen in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, supported by a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology. He is now Associate Professor of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University (2020).
Doc Edge (Jul 2012 - Feb 2017). Doc completed his B.A. in human biology at Stanford University and his M.A. in statistics at the University of California, Berkeley. His research in the lab examined the relationship between human population structure, ancestry inference, and the divergence of quantitative traits across human populations. He also studied the consequences of population genetics in genetic association studies, identifying connections to problems in educational statistics. Doc performed analyses of the mathematical properties of the Fst measure of genetic differentiation and their application in forensic genetics. His Ph.D. thesis in Ecology and Evolution (2016) was titled "Pick up the pieces: combining information from multiple genetic loci." Doc's work was supported by a Stanford Graduate Fellowship, and his Ph.D. was recognized with the Samuel Karlin Prize in Mathematical Biology from the Stanford Department of Biology. After leaving the lab, Doc began a postdoctoral fellowship with Graham Coop in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis. He is now Assistant Professor of Quantitative and Computational Biology at the University of Southern California (2020).
Amy Goldberg (Sep 2012 - Jun 2017). Amy completed her B.S. in biological anthropology and mathematics at the University of Michigan, where she was an undergraduate researcher in the lab. Her research during her Ph.D. examined a variety of topics in human evolutionary genetics, mathematical genetics, and anthropology. She studied mechanistic models of admixture, considering two-sex models of the transmission of autosomal and X-chromosomal loci in an admixed population. She used these models together with genotypes on ancient DNA samples to examine prehistoric admixture processes during migrations into Europe. Amy also studied the population size history of human populations in South America on the basis of the timing and locations of archaeological sites. Her Ph.D. thesis in Ecology and Evolution (2017) was titled "Mathematical and statistical approaches to elucidate recent human evolutionary history." Amy's Ph.D. was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and by a fellowship from the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics. After leaving the lab, Amy joined the lab of Rasmus Nielsen in the Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, supported by a Miller Research Fellowship. She is now Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Duke University (2020).
Lucy Huang (Nov 2006 - Dec 2011). Lucy received her B.S. in mathematics from the University of Chicago (2005) and her M.S. in biostatistics (2007) and Ph.D. in bioinformatics (2011) from the University of Michigan. Her research interests in the lab focused on a variety of aspects of genotype imputation, and on the relationship of population genetics to disease-gene mapping. Her Ph.D. thesis in Bioinformatics (2011) was entitled "Genotype imputation in worldwide human populations: empirical and theoretical approaches." Lucy was supported during her Ph.D. by a Rackham Graduate School Predoctoral Fellowship. After leaving the lab, Lucy began work as an Associate at McKinsey and Company in Chicago. She now works at Google Inc. (2019).
Ethan Jewett (Jan 2010 - Sep 2014). Ethan completed his B.A. in physics at Reed College (2004) and an M.A. in education (2007), M.S. in applied and interdisciplinary mathematics, and M.S. in Bioinformatics (2011), all at the University of Michigan. His Ph.D. (Stanford University, 2014) was entitled "Models and tools for studying genetic and cultural variation." In his research in the lab, Ethan focused on coalescent theory, especially approximations and applications in the study of lineage distributions, and analyses of language data for studies of cultural evolution. Ethan's Ph.D. was supported by a Genome Science Training Program fellowship at the University of Michigan and a Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics fellowship at Stanford. His thesis in Ecology and Evolution was recognized with the Samuel Karlin Prize in Mathematical Biology from the Stanford Department of Biology. After leaving the lab, Ethan began a postdoctoral fellowship with Yun Song in the Departments of Statistics and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, University of California, Berkeley. He now works at 23andMe, inc. (2019).
Jonathan Kang (Sep 2013 - Aug 2018). Jonathan completed his B.S. in applied mathematics and biology at Brown University, where he wrote an undergraduate thesis on bacterial evolution. He had also worked in computational biology and genomics at the Bioinformatics Institute of Singapore. Jonathan's research interests in the lab covered a variety of topics at the intersection of bioinformatics and population genetics, including algorithms for prioritizing individuals for DNA sequencing, consanguinity and runs of homozygosity in genomic data, and statistics for measuring linkage disequilibrium. His Ph.D. thesis in Ecology and Evolution was titled "Analysis and application of linkage disequilibrium in population and statistical genetics." Jonathan's Ph.D was supported by a National Science Scholarship from the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore (A*STAR). After leaving the lab, Jonathan joined the Genome Institute of Singapore as a postdoctoral fellow.
Naama Kopelman (Jul 2007 - Feb 2014). Naama completed her B.Sc. in biology and computer science at Tel Aviv University and her M.S. in bioinformatics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, on the relationship between gene duplication and alternative splicing. She conducted her Ph.D. in environmental studies at Tel Aviv University, with co-supervision by Prof. Lewi Stone. Her research interests in the lab focused on genetic relationships among Jewish populations, population structure, identity by descent, and admixture. Her Ph.D. thesis in Environmental Studies (2014) was entitled "The complex genealogy of Jewish populations." After leaving the lab, Naama joined the lab of Itay Mayrose in the Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants at Tel Aviv University, supported by a fellowship from the Tel Aviv University Edmond J. Safra Center for Bioinformatics. She is now Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Sciences at the Holon Institute of Technology (2018).
Xiran Liu (Jun 2019 - Sep 2023). Xiran completed her B.S. in Systems Science and Engineering and in Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis. Her undergraduate research focused on machine learning applications, including in biological topics such as tumor classification. In the lab, Xiran conducted research on coalescent theory, mathematical properties of population-genetic statistics, network-based statistical analysis, and computational methods for analysis of replicate unsupervised clustering analyses. Her Ph.D. work was supported by a Stanford CEHG Fellowship. Xiran's Ph.D. thesis in Computational and Mathematical Engineering was titled "Computational methods and mathematical measures for population relationships." After completing her Ph.D., Xiran continued her studies in the lab of Sohini Ramachandran, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University.
Rohan Mehta (Sep 2013 - Dec 2018). Rohan completed his B.S. in biology and mathematics at the University of California, San Diego. He performed undergraduate research in ecology, evolution, and theoretical biology, using mathematical modeling approaches. Rohan's research interests in the lab focused on cultural evolution, genealogical models, and population-genetic statistics. His Ph.D. thesis in Ecology and Evolution was titled "Mathematical modeling of genetic and cultural traits." Rohan's work in the lab was supported by a Stanford Graduate Fellowship and by a fellowship from the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary, and Human Genomics. After graduating from Stanford, Rohan continued his studies in the lab of Daniel Weissman at the Department of Physics, Emory University.
Alissa Severson (Jan 2017 - Sep 2021). Alissa completed her B.A. in Mathematics and Chemistry at Carleton College, where she participated in the Budapest Semesters in Mathematics program. After college, she worked for two years in clinical genomics and bioinformatics at the Univesity of Washington and the Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle. Alissa's interests in the lab focused on human population genetics and genomics, with an emphasis on identity by descent, runs of homozygosity, coalescent theory, and ancient and modern genomics of Indigenous populations. The title of her Ph.D. in Genetics was "The effect of relatedness and population structure on patterns of genomic sharing." Her work in the lab was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and by a Stanford CEHG fellowship. After leaving the lab, Alissa began work as a computational biologist at D2G Oncology.
Zachary Szpiech (Dec 2007 - Sep 2012). Zach completed his B.S. in mathematics at the University of Michigan (2007), working during his senior year in the Rosenberg lab. He completed his M.S. in bioinformatics (2009) and Ph.D. in bioinformatics (2012) at the University of Michigan. Zach's research interests in the lab focused on theoretical, empirical, and statistical aspects of private alleles. His Ph.D. thesis in Bioinformatics, entitled "Human migration, population divergence, and the accumulation of deleterious alleles: insights from private genetic variation and whole-exome sequencing," was supported by graduate fellowships from the University of Michigan Bioinformatics and Genome Science Training Programs. After leaving the lab, Zach joined the lab of Ryan Hernandez in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. He is now Assistant Professor of Biology at Pennsylvania State University (2021).
Chaolong Wang, (Jan 2009 - Sep 2012). Chaolong earned his B.S. in Physics from Peking University (2008), and his M.A. in statistics (2011), M.S. in bioinformatics (2011), and Ph.D. in bioinformatics (2012) from the University of Michigan. In the lab, Chaolong's research interests focused on statistical analysis of the relationship between genes and geography in human populations, and on a maximum-likelihood method for the analysis of allelic dropout. His Ph.D. thesis in Bioinformatics, "Statistical methods for analyzing human genetic variation in diverse populations," was supported by a Rackham Graduate School Predoctoral Fellowship and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Student Research Fellowship. After leaving the lab, Chaolong began work as a postdoctoral fellowship in the labs of Liming Liang and Xihong Lin in the Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health. He is now a Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2021).


Master's students

Brian Donovan (Mar 2014 - June 2016). Brian completed his B.A. in biology at Colorado College (2001) and his M.A. in teaching (2009) at the University of San Francisco. In the lab, Brian focused on understanding the population-genetic characterization of human genetic variation. He completed his biology M.S. alongside his Ph.D. in science education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. His research investigated such topics as ecology education in relation to global environmental problems, and curricula for the study of human genetic variation. The title of his thesis in Science Education (2016) was "An experimental exploration of how text-based instruction in school biology affects belief in genetic essentialism of race in adolescent populations." His training was supported by a Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship. Brian continued his training as a postdoctoral fellow at the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, Colorado Springs.
Laura Helmkamp (Aug 2010 - Aug 2011). Laura completed her B.S. in mathematics and chemistry at the University of Florida (2010) and her M.S. in biostatistics at the University of Michigan (2012). Her work as a research assistant in the lab focused on evaluating the statistical properties of algorithms that use gene trees to estimate species trees, with an emphasis on consensus methods. After leaving the lab, she continued in her M.S. studies and began work as a data analyst in the Division of Population Health Sciences at Wayne State University.
Jenna VanLiere (Sep 2006 - Apr 2008). Jenna completed her B.S. in mathematics at Duke University (2004), and her M.S. in bioinformatics (2008) and M.D. (2010) at the University of Michigan. In the lab, her research focused on population genetics in relation to the identification of disease genes, with an emphasis on linkage disequilibrium and replication of genetic association studies. Her work was supported by a fellowship from the Genome Science Training Program. After leaving the lab, Jenna completed her medical training at the University of Michigan Medical School and continued in an internal medicine residency at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. She is now Assistant Professor of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University (2016).


Undergraduates

Alan Aw (Aug 2015 - Aug 2018). Alan studied in the lab throughout his time as an undergraduate majoring in mathematical and computational science. His work in the lab spanned a number of areas, including mathematical properties of genetic diversity statistics, coalescent histories and partial orders, bounds on gene tree probabilities, and mathematical properties of the site-frequency spectrum. Alan's research was recognized by the Dean's Award for Academic Achievement. After graduating from Stanford in 2018, Alan continued his studies as a Ph.D. student in Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Uma Dayal (Jan 2024 - Aug 2024). Uma was in the undergraduate class of 2023, majoring in Mathematics with co-terminal master's in Computer Science in 2024. Prior to arriving in the lab, Uma conducted research on probabilistic graphical models, convex optimization, and applied cryptography. In the lab, her research focused on cultural evolution models and data analysis.
Hormazd Godrej (Sep 2016 - Dec 2018). Hormazd performed research in the lab while majoring in biology, with a computational biology concentration. Hormazd's research in the lab was centered on runs of homozygosity and Jewish genetics. He completed an undergraduate thesis entitlted "Detecting categories of consanguinity through X chromosomal runs of homozygosity."
Amy Goldberg (Apr 2011 - Aug 2011). Amy performed research in the lab as a senior majoring in biological anthropology and mathematics at the University of Michigan. Her work in the lab focused on admixture in human populations. After graduating from Michigan in 2012, Amy rejoined the lab as a Ph.D. student in the ecology and evolution program at Stanford University.
Lucas Hansen (Jan 2014 - Jun 2014). Lucas studied in the lab during his junior year as a student in mathematics and computational science (MCS). His work in the lab examined the population genetics of ascertainment bias in genomic studies. After completing his work in the lab, Lucas continued in his computational studies at Stanford, graduating in 2015.
Zoe Himwich (Apr 2017 - Jun 2019). Zoe worked in the lab beginning in her sophomore year, continuing into her senior year. She majored in mathematics and English, graduating in 2019. Within the lab, Zoe studied the combinatorics of evolutionary trees, focusing in particular on coalescent histories for non-matching caterpillar gene trees and species trees. Zoe is continuing in her studies as a PhD student in mathematics at Columbia University (2020).
Elyssa Hofgard (Mar 2021 - Sep 2021). Elyssa worked in the lab in her senior year. She majored in physics with minors in mathematics and history. Elyssa's studies in the lab focused on population-genetic data analysis and human genetic variation, with an emphasis on sample-size correction in measurement of genetic variation. After working in the lab, Elyssa continued at Stanford in the MS program in computational and mathematical engineering.
Ivana Jankovic (Apr 2008 - May 2010). Ivana performed research in the lab as a junior and senior majoring in molecular and cellular biology at the University of Michigan. Her work in the lab focused on statistics for analyzing genetic variation in related individuals. After graduating from Michigan in 2010, Ivana enrolled as a medical student at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is now a fellow in endocrinology at Stanford University Medical Center (2020).
Matt King (Mar 2021 - Jun 2022). Matt worked in the lab as a math major and computer science co-term. His work in the lab examined combinatorial problems concerning evolutionary trees, with an emphasis on tree balance statistics and labeled histories. Matt graduated from Stanfrod in 2022 with a B.S. in mathematics and M.S. in compouter science, and is continuing his studies in the mathematics Ph.D. program at Harvard University (2022).
Egor Lappo (Oct 2018 - Jun 2022). Egor worked in the lab during his career as a mathematics undergraduate. His studies in the lab focused on combinatorics of evolutionary trees, coalescent theory, and mathematical population genetics. After graduating from Stanford in 2022 with a B.S. in mathematics, Egor continued in the lab as a Ph.D. student in ecology and evolutionary biology.
Alessandra Maranca (Feb 2021 - Aug 2021). Alessandra performed research in the lab as an undergraduate studying mathematics and sociology. Alessandra's work in the lab investigated the combinatorics of evolutionary trees, with a focus on a scheme for bijectively associating unlabeled binary rooted trees with positive integers. Alessandra graduated with a B.S. in mathematics and M.S. in sociology in December 2023, and continued in a post-baccalaureate program at MIT.
Ananya Rastogi (May 2014 - July 2014). Ananya was a visiting student researcher in the lab while studying for her M.S. degree, integrated with her undergraduate training, at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Mohali, India. Her reseach in the lab focused on dynamical models of admixture. After completion of her summer research, Ananya returned to IISER to finish her undergraduate training. in bioinformatics. She is now an Associate Editor at Nature Computational Science (2021).
Shashir Reddy (Sep 2008 - Jan 2010). Shashir performed research in the lab as a junior and senior majoring in mathematics. His work in the lab focused on mathematical properties of homozygosity and heterozygosity. After graduating from Michigan in 2010, Shashir enrolled in a post-baccalaureate program in computer science at Ohio State University. He now works in the field of data science (2020).
Zachary Szpiech (Sep 2006 - Aug 2007). Zach performed research in the lab as a senior majoring in mathematics. His work in the lab focused on software for analyzing private allelic variation. After graduating from Michigan in 2007, Zach rejoined the lab as a Ph.D. student in bioinformatics.
Randa Tao (Feb 2006 - Jun 2006). Randa performed research in the lab as an undergraduate majoring in ecology and evolutionary biology. Her work in the lab focused on mathematical models of the discordance of gene trees and species trees. After graduating from Michigan in 2006, Randa enrolled as a medical student at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.


High school students

Eric Kalosa-Kenyon (Jun 2010 - Aug 2010). Eric performed research in the lab after his junior year at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor. His work in the lab focused on properties of the minimize-deep-coalescence algortithm for species tree inference. After graduating from Pioneer in 2011, Eric enrolled as an undergraduate at Brown University.



Past rotation students and extended visitors

  • Tami Gjorgjieva, Stanford Genetics (Apr 2023 - Jun 2023)
  • Juan Esteban Rodriguez Rodriguez, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Jan 2023 - Mar 2023)
  • Huisheng Julie Zhu, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Sep 2022 - Dec 2022)
  • Shaili Mathur, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Sep 2021 - Dec 2021)
  • Xiran Liu, Stanford Computational and Mathematical Engineering (Jun 2019 - Aug 2019)
  • Alyssa Fortier, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Apr 2019 - Jun 2019)
  • Daniel Cotter, Stanford Genetics (Jan 2019 - Mar 2019)
  • Kaleda Denton, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Sep 2018 - Mar 2019)
  • Maurice Goodman, Stanford Marine Biology first-year PhD student (Sep 2018 - Jun 2019)
  • Alissa Severson, Stanford Genetics (Jan 2017 - Mar 2017)
  • Ilana Arbisser, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Apr 2014 - Jun 2014)
  • Arbel Harpak, Stanford Ecology/Evolution (Sep 2013 - Mar 2014)
  • Lucie Gattepaille, Visiting evolutionary biology PhD student, Uppsala University (May 2013 - Aug 2013)
  • Anastasia Wolff, Visiting biology master's student, Ecole Normale Superieure (Feb 2010 - Jun 2010)
  • Brian Metzger, UMich Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (Sep 2009 - Oct 2009)
  • Ethan Jewett, UMich Bioinformatics (May 2009 - Aug 2009)
  • Chaolong Wang, UMich Bioinformatics (Jan 2009 - Apr 2009)
  • Simina Boca, Visiting Johns Hopkins biostatistics PhD student (Jun 2008 - Aug 2008; Jun 2007 - Aug 2007)
  • Zach Szpiech, UMich Bioinformatics (Jan 2008 - Apr 2008)
  • Mike DeGiorgio, UMich Bioinformatics (Apr 2007 - Aug 2007)
  • Conner Sandefur, UMich Bioinformatics (Jan 2007 - Apr 2007)
  • Jenna VanLiere, UMich Bioinformatics (Apr 2006 - Jun 2006)
  • Justin Van Klein, UMich Bioinformatics (Sep 2005 - Dec 2005)


    "Lab friends": trainees participating in significant projects with the lab during the time of their training

    Postdocs
  • Nicole Creanza (Feldman lab, 2013-2018)
  • Cecil Lewis (Long lab, 2005-2007)

    PhD students
  • Ellie Armstrong (Hadly/Petrov labs, 2016-2021)
  • Kaleda Denton (Feldman lab, 2018-2023)
  • Alison Feder (Petrov lab, 2013-2018)
  • Alyssa Fortier (Pritchard lab, 2018-2023)
  • Nandita Garud (Petrov lab, 2011-2015)
  • Arbel Harpak (Pritchard lab, 2013-2018)
  • Shaili Mathur (Cremer/Petrov labs, 2021-)
  • Matt Zawistoski (Zöllner lab, 2005-2011)
  • Peng Zhang (Zöllner lab, 2007-2013)

    Undergraduates
  • Theo Gress (Biology undergraduate, 2022-2023)
  • Rishabh Kapoor (Biology undergraduate, 2020-2021)
  • Yash Pershad (Bioengineering undergraduate, 2020-2021)


    Graduate/postdoc alumni in faculty/faculty-equivalent positions

    Nicolas Alcala — Computational Biology, International Agency for Research on Cancer (France)
    Lars Andersen — Mathematics, University of Aarhus (Denmark)
    Airam Blancas — Statistics, Instituto Technológico Autónomo de México (Mexico)
    Erkan Buzbas — Statistical Science, University of Idaho
    Jenna (VanLiere) Canzoniero — Medicine/General Internal Medicine, Johns Hopkins University
    Michael DeGiorgio — Computer & Electrical Engeering and Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University; previously Biology, Pennsylvania State University
    James Degnan — Mathematics and Statistics, University of New Mexico; previously Mathematics and Statistics, University of Canterbury (New Zealand)
    Filippo Disanto — Mathematics, University of Pisa (Italy)
    Doc Edge — Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California
    Amy Goldberg — Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University
    Gili Greenbaum — Ecology, Evolution & Behavior, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
    Mattias Jakobsson — Evolutionary Biology, Uppsala University (Sweden)
    Jonathan Kang — Computational Problem Solving, NUS College (Singapore)
    Jaehee Kim — Computational Biology, Cornell University
    Naama Kopelman — Computer Science, Holon Institute of Technology (Israel)
    Rohan Mehta — Biology, Elmhurst University
    Jazlyn Mooney — Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California
    Paul Scheet — Epidemiology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
    Zachary Szpiech — Biology, Pennsylvania State University
    Lawrence Uricchio — Biology, Tufts University
    Paul Verdu — Ecoanthropology and Ethnobiology, Museum national d'histoire naturelle (France)
    Chaolong Wang — Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (China); previously Genome Institute of Singapore (Singapore)