2020

September

My undergraduate thesis finally sees the light of day! A manuscript describing hidden cryptic diversity among the Indirana and Walkerana genus of frogs is now out on PLOS ONE. See publications page for details.

August

I was invited to lecture a general audience on the use of acoustics for biodiversity conservation. My talk was titled 'Of Birds and Sounds: Using acoustics to monitor biodiversity' at WILD.I.Q.3.0

Welcome Amrutha to the team! Amrutha Rajan will be working with me on projects related to bioacoustics and historical ecology.

​I co-wrote a piece on natural history collections for the Wire. See publications page.

July

I co-wrote a piece on environmental governance and India's environmental clearance record in Sanctuary Asia. See publications page.

Also, welcome Akshay to the team! Akshay Anand will be working with me on projects related to bioacoustics and historical ecology.

June

I co-wrote a piece on bioacoustics in Mongabay-India (see publications page). 

April

I received a Mamont Scholar Grant from the Explorers Club and the Lewis and Clark Exploration Fund from the American Philosophical Society. Can't wait to start work in the Nilgiris!

February

Fieldwork has begun in earnest in the Anamalai hills. Currently deploying recorders to collect acoustic data. 

I received an Early Career Grant from the National Geographic Society. Thank you Nat Geo!

January

Our new paper, describing Walkerana muduga​, a frog species endemic to the Western Ghats is now out! See publications for details.


Pratik Dubal (Department of Computer Science) and I received a seed grant from the Center for Science and Society, Columbia University to develop a protocol for automated classification of historical maps. Pretty excited!

2019

November

I received a small research grant from the Rufford Foundation to monitor vocalizing biodiversity across the Valparai plateau, Western Ghats. 

Thank you to the Earth Institute, Columbia University for providing Project Dhvani with a travel grant to head to India for field work in 2020.

April

It is with utmost sadness that I write to let you know about the untimely demise of my mentor, Prof. Don J Melnick. My thoughts and more can be found here.

January

Project Dhvani received the Student Research Fellowship Grant from the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity at Columbia University. Thank you AC4!

2018

​December

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I received a travel grant from the Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Council. 

July

In a recent article in Mongabay on how climate change affects breeding and nesting patterns of birds, I spoke about how citizen science and historical information could be used to understand how warming climates are affecting avian distributions as well as migratory patterns. You can find the article here. 

May and June

Pooja Choksi, Sarika Khanwilkar and I piloted a soundscapes study in the Western Ghats and Central India in the Summer of 2018. Our goals were to test if we could monitor biodiversity using sounds. For more details, please click here.

April

I lead a workshop on carrying out 'Spatial Analysis Using R' at the US - International Association for Landscape Ecology regional conference in Chicago, and earlier at the Student Conference in Conservation Science in October 2017. All materials for the workshop are available here.
I was interviewed for a podcast by IndiSciComm where I spoke in detail about parts of my doctoral work, where I aim to integrate history and ecology to understand how avian distributions are changing over time. Click here to listen to the podcast.

March

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University interviewed me for the Student Spotlight series. You can find the entire transcript here.

January

The Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology provided Exploratory Research Funds for the Summer of 2018, to test the feasibility of my doctoral research. These funds will be used towards travel between field sites in India and archival research in London and India. 

2017

October

I presented the results of my Master's thesis - 'IUCN greatly underestimates threat levels of Western Ghats endemic birds' at the Student Conference in Conservation Science, New York and was awarded 'Best Talk for Best Use of Quantitative Methods in Conservation Research'

September

A class on 'Environmental Conflict Resolution' that I took as an MA student resulted in a project at the end of term, where Ann Marie Hager, James Larson, Nene Kumashe Ugbah and I wrote a policy piece on incorporating conflict resolution theory and practice in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Here, we highlight a theory of change and ways in which one can mitigate the conflict between oil extraction companies and primarily indigenous groups in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
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Synthesis map of Yasuni and the major groups involved (Hager et al., 2017)

April

My master's thesis co-authored with Trisha Gopalakrishna, Sahas Barve and Don J Melnick just got published in Biological Conservation. We show that ranges have been overestimated by BirdLife International (BLI) for 17 of the 18 endemic birds examined and thereby, inflating the threat levels on the IUCN Red List. 

Visit the publications page for more details.

January

I will be starting my PhD in the Fall of 2017 at the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (E3B), Columbia University. I have been awarded the Dean's Fellowship, the highest honor for an entering graduate student, and shall be working alongside Prof. Don J Melnick and Prof. Ruth DeFries.

Excited to be back!

2016

June

I took up a full-time position at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, working as as a Spatial and Computational Data Manager for Barbara Han. 

January

I received a fellowship from the Advanced Consortium on Cooperation, Conflict and Complexity for estimating forest loss and changes in forest cover in the Gorongosa Mountain Region, Mozambique. This project is being carried out in collaboration with Dr. Joshua Fisher at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. 

2015

October
Proud to have been awarded the Best Speed Talk award at the recently concluded SCCS conference at New York.

July

IDEA WILD is providing me equipment to carry out field work in the Western Ghats. Thank you IDEA WILD!

May 

I presented my findings on cryptic diversity within the Indirana genus of frogs at the Society of Systematic Biologists StandAlone Meeting held at Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

I received the Mewaldt-King Student Research Award from the Cooper Ornithological Society and the Columbia University Master's Thesis grant.

March 

I received the SSB Travel Award to attend the Standalone meeting in Michigan in May 2015. Excited to present my findings at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

2014

September

I started grad school in the fall of 2014 at Columbia University. I will be majoring in Conservation biology and expect to graduate in May 2016. I will be advised by Don Melnick , Joel Cracraft, Brian Smith and Mary Blair for my MA thesis.