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Ashkaan K. Fahimipour, PhD
Ashkaan K. Fahimipour, PhD
Principal Investigator | afahimipour [at] fau [dot] edu
Ash is a theoretical ecologist in the Dept. of Biological Sciences and Center for Complex Systems at Florida Atlantic University. Before joining the faculty at FAU, he was a Natl. Academy of Sciences Natl. Research Council Fellow at NOAA + UC Santa Cruz; and held postdoctoral positions in the UC Davis Dept. of Computer Science and University of Oregon Inst. of Ecology & Evolution. He received his Ph.D. in Ecology from UC Riverside, and B.S. in Botany from the University of Florida. His work is motivated by a lifelong passion for helping animals.
Edita Folfas, PhD
Edita Folfas, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
efolfas [at] fau [dot] edu
Edita is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Dept. of Biological Sciences. Prior to joining FAU, she did a Ph.D. in the Dept. of Biology at UT Arlington. Her research focuses on species interactions and resource availability in shaping niche breadth and community structure. She is especially interested in how individual-level variation scales up to structure populations and communities. Outside of work, she enjoys hanging out with friends, looking for birds, and card games.
Darien Satterfield, PhD
Darien Satterfield, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
dsatterfield [at] fau [dot] edu
Darien is a Jumpstart Postdoctoral Fellow in the Dept. of Biological Sciences. She completed her Ph.D. in the Center for Population Biology at UC Davis. As a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist, Darien studies collective behaviors like schooling, the ecological drivers of behavioral diversity, and macroevolutionary links between morphology and behavior in fishes. She is also deeply committed to mentorship and to breaking down barriers within science and academia.
Ana Arevalo Cardona
Ana Arevalo Cardona
PhD Student
aarevalocard2023 [at] fau [dot] edu
Ana is a Ph.D. student in Integrative Biology interested in conservation of marine organisms. Her background includes work in sea turtle monitoring, computational methods, and environmental education. She currently serves as a Manatee Master, supporting public outreach and seagrass restoration. Ana is particularly interested in ecosystem restoration and network science, and enjoys combining fieldwork with modeling to develop real-world environmental solutions.
Stephen is a Ph.D. candidate in Complex Systems, studying alignment solutions for general learning algorithms, with a focus on causal reasoning frameworks and reinforcement learning. He is a member of the ecoNetworks Laboratory and serves as an AI Safety Coach. Stephen holds an M.S. degree in artificial intelligence and a bachelor’s in mathematics from Florida Atlantic University. His interdisciplinary background shapes his systems-level approach to biology, AI safety and complexity science.
Leela Johnson
Leela Johnson
PhD Candidate
leelajohnson2023 [at] fau [dot] edu
Leela is a Ph.D. candidate in Integrative Biology, with interests ranging from human epidemiology to entomology. Her work focuses on how information spreads through animal social networks and influences collective behavior. She’s passionate about blending outdoor fieldwork with tools from complex systems, and she's especially interested in making these insights accessible to broader audiences. Outside of research, Leela enjoys painting, hiking, and a good cup of tea.
Meghan White
Meghan White
PhD Student
meghanwhite2024 [at] fau [dot] edu
Meghan is a Ph.D. student in Integrative Biology, interested in ecological networks and theory. Her focus is to better understand how the scales of organismal space use drive patterns, and functions, in complex ecological systems. Meghan aims to apply network science and complex system tools to ecological questions, to empirically test these findings, and to communicate findings to the public through outreach at the Gumbo Limbo nature Center.
Lab Alumni
Candido Diaz, PhD | Asst. Professor, Stetson University
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