People
Postdoctoral Associate
Dr. Megan Petersdorf, P.h.D. is a postdoctoral associate in the Jack Lab. She is interested in the evolution of social and mating system diversity, with a focus on reproductive strategies and sexual signals. She received her PhD from New York University (2021) where her dissertation focused on sexual selection dynamics in wild Kinda baboons. She then spent two years teaching at Durham University (UK) and co-directing the Kasanka Baboon Project (Zambia). Her current research with the Jack Lab focuses on life history and reproductive strategies of male capuchins, using long-term behavioral, morphological, endocrinological, and genetic data.
Email: mpetersdorf@tulane.edu Twitter: @meganpetersdorf
Website: meganpetersdorf.com
Current Graduate Students
Margaret Buehler joined our Ph.D. program in August 2017. She completed her master’s degree at Northern Illinois University, with her thesis “Inter-sexual social interaction in wild white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in Costa Rica. Her dissertation examines the role of subordinate males in social groups of white-faced capuchins in Santa Rosa.
Nelle Kulick, Co-advised with Dr. Amanda Melin (University of Calgary). Nelle began her PhD in 2021 after completing her B.S. in Environmental Biology and Anthropology at Tulane in 2020. Her research interests span the topics of primate social behavior, sensory ecology, conservation biology, and understanding the effects of forest regeneration and climate change on wild capuchins in Santa Rosa.
Email: dkulick1@tulane.edu Twitter: @nellekulick
———————————————————
Nick Chapoy started the Anthropology PhD program in the fall of 2022. He earned an MRes in primate biology, behavior, and conservation from Roehampton University (2021) in London and a B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology from the University of Montana (2015). He has spent the last several years as a research assistant working on primate research projects, including chimpanzees and mountain gorillas in Uganda, woolly monkeys in Ecuador. Nick’s research interests include how age, rank, and endocrinology influences vocal communication in wild capuchin monkeys living in Santa Rosa.
Email: nchapoy@tulane.edu Twitter: @nickchapoy
——————————————————
Celeste Lam began her P.hD. this fall, and we are thrilled to be welcoming her to our lab and to Tulane. Celeste earned a B.Sc. in Psychology (2019) and an MA in Anthropology (2022) from UNC Charlotte. During her undergraduate years, she interned at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and participated in the Maderas Rainforest Conservancy field school in Costa Rica. Her research interests encompass cross-species conflict, community ecology, and the impact of anthropogenic food on wild primate populations, particularly in relation to behaviors, health, and physiology.
Email: clam3@tulane.edu
———————————————————
Current Undergraduate Students
Are you an undergraduate student at Tulane University interested in joining our lab? See the bottom of the page for my contact info and get in touch!
Hubert Mendez is a junior pursing a double a major in computer science and biomedical engineering with a minor in anthropology. He started with our lab in May of 2022 and is continuing working on the ‘Scent of an Alpha Male project. Hubert is excited to be a part of our research team and looks forward to applying the skills he has learned in this journey to his future research endeavors. Furthermore, he is honored to be a member of an institution who trusts that its research can highlight the importance of primatology and the need to invest and expand into this field of education.
Evelyn Howard is a sophomore majoring in anthropology and minoring in Spanish on the pre-med track. She began working in our lab in October of 2022 and thus far has been conducting photogrammetry analyses for the ‘Scent of an Alpha Male’ Project. Over the summer, she joined us at a field school in Santa Rosa where she captured photos and collected data for the project. This semester, Evelyn is continuing as a research assistant in the lab and will present on the project’s research findings this fall at the November NTC Research & Idea Symposium.
———————————————————
Co-directors of the Santa Rosa Primate Project:
Linda Fedigan | Katharine Jack | Amanda Melin | Fernando Campos
Current Collaborators
Former Graduate Students
Lauren Brasington, Ph.D. 2020. Countering infanticide: New perspectives on sexual conflict in white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus imitator). Current Position: Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University.
Gillian King-Bailey, Ph.D. 2019. The behavior and endocrinology of dominance in female white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator) in Sector Santa Rosa, Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Current Position: Graduate Student Research Liason, Sonoma State University.
Valerie Schoof, Ph.D. 2013; Behavior and reproductive endocrinology of male white-faced capuchins (Cebus capucinus) in the Santa Rosa Sector of the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste, Costa Rica; Current Position: Associate Professor, York Research Chair in Primate Behavioural Endocrinology, Glendon College, York University.
Bryan Lenz, Ph.D. 2013; The effects of cattle ranching on a primate community in the Central Amazon; American Bird Conservancy, Bird City Americas Director and Glass Collision Program Manager.
Claire Sheller, M.A. 2009
Kristen Ritchotte, M.A. 2015
Zdanna King, M.A. 2009
Andrew Childers, M.A. 2008
Official sites for SNRP and ACG (in Spanish):
Santa Rosa National Park | Area de Conservación Guanacaste