Uno Terrestrial Paleoecology Lab Members

Kevin Uno, Associate Professor

Kevin Uno is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is a paleoecologist whose primary research focus is on exploring the role of climate and environmental change on mammalian and human evolution.  To do this, he uses stable isotope and organic geochemical methods to reconstruct climate, vegetation, and mammalian diets from the Neogene (~24 Ma) to present. He has led or co-authored a series of papers that linked dietary changes in mammals and hominins to late Neogene vegetation change.  Since 2013, he has focused on development and application of molecular biomarker analyses on terrestrial and marine sediments to reconstruct ecosystem structure, hydroclimate, and fire in ancient environments.

 

Enquye Negash, Postdoc

Enquye Negash received her PhD from the George Washington University where she studied woody vegetation cover in modern African ecosystems to better understand the environmental context of human evolution. Her research relies on using stable isotopes, paleobotanical methods, and spatial analysis to study vegetation in modern ecosystems, and to reconstruct mammalian diet and paleoenvironments in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. As a Climate School  Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University, Enquye is focusing on the application of molecular biomarkers to further investigate vegetation structure in African ecosystems. 


Bryce Mitsunaga, Postdoc

Bryce Mitsunaga is an organic and carbonate isotope geochemist who studies Earth's thousand- to million-year climate cycles, specifically how changes in ocean temperatures and circulation drive terrestrial hydrology (e.g., monsoons) and ecology. His current research involves how all of the above interact with fire and the human settlement of North Africa as well as the terrestrial Ibero-African response to major climatic and tectonic events (the Messinian Salinity Crisis, mid-Pleistocene transition, etc.). He comes to the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard via a PhD at Brown University.


Margot Louail, Postdoc

Margot Louail studies the past ecologies of African suids and primates in the Pliocene and Pleistocene to explore the role of seasonality and feeding habits on their evolution. Her research mostly involves dental wear analysis and stable isotopes. She received her PhD from the University of Poitiers where she studied how teeth record the consumption of resources that could have been fallback foods for early hominins using controlled-fed pigs as a model. She comes to the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, as a Junior Fellow with the American School of Prehistoric Research, to develop tools to better interpret isotopic variations in diet.


Jonathan Smolen, Postdoc

Jonathan Smolen is a chemist with expertise in organic molecular and isotopic analyses, studying signatures of geological, climatic, and biological interactions down to the atomic level. Jon is particularly interested in understanding the mechanisms controlling the relationship between climate and fire dynamics of the past. He comes from the University of Connecticut, where he studied geochemical records of this relationship preserved within stalagmites spanning the last deglaciation. He also works on modeling the clay mineral–fluid–organic matter interface and how it contributes to our preserved geological record. 


Kayla Worthey, Postdoc

Kayla Worthey is an archaeologist and biogeochemist studying the Late Pleistocene terrestrial environments of North Africa and their impacts on humans during the Middle and Later Stone Ages. She principally uses stable isotope-based proxies from organic biomarkers and faunal remains sampled from archaeological sites. In particular, she is interested in tracing the extent and nature of vegetation change during humid periods in the Sahara and neighboring regions at local scales. Kayla received her PhD from the University of Arizona where she studied relationships between paleoclimate and forager land-use in the Stone Age of Morocco. She joins the departments of Human Evolutionary Biology and Anthropology at Harvard as a Junior Fellow with the American School of Prehistoric Research.


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Ruth Tweedy, Graduate Student

Ruth Tweedy is an EPS graduate student at Harvard University studying the terrestrial paleoecology of eastern Africa. Currently, she is focusing on developing organic biomarker proxies to study the expansion of grasslands in the Miocene. Ruth received her bachelor's degree from MIT, where she was a double major in Chemistry and Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Science with a humanities concentration in Archaeology. She hopes her PhD will contribute to our understanding of how climate, vegetation, and human evolution intersect!


Eleanor Pereboom, Graduate Student

Eleanor Pereboom is a graduate student in Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. She is interested in the relationships between climate change, ecological change, fire dynamics, and human activity. Her research is focused on using biomarkers to develop a stronger understanding of ancient fire regimes and early human fire use. She received her bachelor’s degrees from Brown University (Sc.B. Environmental Science) and Rhode Island School of Design (BFA Ceramics). Before coming to Harvard, Eleanor worked as a research assistant in James Russell’s paleoclimate & paleoecology lab at Brown University.


Valencia Ajeh is a graduate student in Earth and Planetary Sciences.


Frank Farley, Research Assistant

Frank Farley is a Research Assistant I in the Uno Lab.  After an educational background in physics and chemistry, he worked for 25 years in Harvard biology labs, mostly at the Harvard Medical School.  He worked in a yeast, a mouse, and a stem cell lab, and then a DNA sequencing core facility.  He is happy to be back in a lab where he supports a myriad of terrestrial paleoecology research projects.


Cassandra Swartz, Lab Assistant

Cassandra Swartz, is an undergraduate Lab Assistant who helps process samples for biomarker analysis. She is concentrating in Environmental Science and Public Policy, with a secondary in History and a citation in Portuguese at Harvard University on a Pre-Law track. She served as the Internal Programs Director of Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business, and currently is Co-Director of Harvard Undergraduate Clean Energy Group’s Innovation initiative. 


Natalia de los Rios, Undergraduate Researcher

Natalia de los Rios is a undergraduate researcher who helps process samples for biomarker analysis. She is a freshman at Harvard College from Virginia Beach, VA, and is interested in pursing a special concentration in Sustainable Food Systems. She is fascinated by the study of ancient climactic phenomena to address the climate challenges we currently face. Natalia is the founder and co-director of Food Rescue US - Virginia Beach and continues to work in the realm of food insecurity and food waste in Cambridge as a volunteer at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and a board member of Harvard Undergraduates Plant-Based and the Havard Climate Coalition.


Arya Prasad, Lab Assistant

Arya Prasad, is an undergraduate Lab Assistant who helps process samples for biomarker analysis. She is a first year at Harvard College from New York who is hoping to concentrate in Environmental Science and Public Policy with a secondary in Education. Arya looks forward to learning more about terrestrial paleoclimatology at the Uno Lab. Outside of the lab, she is passionate about Bollywood dance, education policy, and wildlife.


Annika Dellinger is an undergraduate Lab Assistant who helps process samples for biomarker analysis.


Zander Chearavanont is an undergraduate Lab Assistant who helps process samples for biomarker analysis.


Past Lab Members

Postdocs

Daniel Green, (2021-23) Field School Director and Lecturer, Dept. of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University

Troy Ferland, (2022-23) ORISE Postdoc at the EPA

Rachel Lupien, (2019-22) Faculty member, Dept. of Geosciences, Aarhus University

Lab Staff

Maria Kuzina (2022-23) Research Staff Associate

Alana Masciana (2019-20) Undergraduate Research Assistant; (2020-22) Research Staff Associate

Helen Habicht (2019-21) Lab Manager

Nicole deRoberts (2015-18) Lab Manager

Senior Thesis Students

Ashley House (2024, Columbia University). Mapping African Environments: A Stable Isotope Study of Modern Crocodilian Enamel and its Potential for Paleoecological and Paleoenvironmental Reconstructions. Co-advised with Daniel Green and Sid Hemming.

Sneha Bapana (2023, Barnard College). Middle Miocene Paleoecology of the East African Rift Valley. Co-advised with Daniel Green.

Morgan Brown (2020, Columbia University). Stable Isotope Analysis of Cercopithecidae in the Shungura Formation 3.3-1.2 Ma: Dietary Niche Partitioning of Theropithecus and Sympatric Monkeys. SVP_2020_poster

Brenden Fischer-Femal (2015, University of Puget Sound). Reconstructing Vegetation using n-Alkanes and n-Alkanoic Acid δ13C Values in Modern Soils and Paleosols in a North American C4 Grassland.

Jennifer Pensky (2015, Barnard College).  Did Hydrological Change Drive the Expansion of Grasslands in India during the Late Miocene?  Senior Thesis in Environmental Science; Co-advised with Pratigya Polissar.

Emma Kahle (2014, Columbia University).  Evolution of East African climate from compound-specific hydrogen and carbon isotope analyses.  Senior Thesis in Earth and Environmental Science.

Summer Interns

Anya Ganeshan (2022-23 academic year; Bergen County Academies; advised by Troy Ferland and Ruth Tweedy)

Dina Alam (2022, Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Art and Music and Performing Arts; co-advised with Troy Ferland)

Cassandra Calleja (2022, The Young Women’s Leadership School of East Harlem; co-advised with Troy Ferland)

Lina Lajqi (2022, New York Harbor School; co-advised with Troy Ferland)

Victoria Johnson (2022, Columbia University; co-advised with Troy Ferland)

Mackenzie Pina (2022, Adelphi University; co-advised with Troy Ferland)

Sneha Bapana (2022, Barnard College; co-advised with Daniel Green)

Ashley House (2022, Columbia University, co-advised with Daniel Green)

Sarah Shi (2018, Columbia University) 2018 AGU Poster

Rachel Buzeta (2017, Univ. of Dayton; co-advised with Pratigya Polissar) 2017 GSA Poster

Kevin Jackson (2015, Lafayette College; co-advised with Pratigya Polissar) 2015 GSA Poster

Brenden Fischer-Femal (2014, Univ. of Puget Sound; co-advised with Pratigya Polissar) 2014 AGU Poster

Jennifer Pensky (2014, Barnard College; co-advised with Pratigya Polissar) 2014 AGU Talk

Emma Kahle (2013, Columbia University; co-advised with Pratigya Polissar) 2013 AGU Poster

Research Assistants

Ashley House (2022-2023, Columbia University)

Sneha Bapana (2021-2023, Barnard College)

Arpita Kanrar (2021-22, Columbia University)

Redmond Stein (2020-21, Columbia University)

Mantjita Camara (2019-21, Columbia University)

Emma Gometz (2020-21, Columbia University)

Alana Masciana (2019-20, Barnard College)

Levi Pugh (2019, Columbia University)

Jason Hagani (2018, Columbia University)

Max Goodman (2018, Columbia University)

Karina Buhler (2017-18, Barnard College)

Nicki Franks (2017, Barnard College)

Christopher Hildum (2017-18, Columbia University)

Anita Montero (2017-19, Barnard College)

Mark Franklin (2015-16, Columbia University)

Natalia Galud Erazo (2014-2015, Columbia University)

Dorthy Fang (2014-2015, Columbia University)

Esther Roh (2014, General Studies, Columbia University)

Shawnee Traylor (2014, Environmental Chemistry, Columbia University)

David NwaChukwu, Jr. (2014, Dept. of Biochemistry, Columbia University)

Brittany Becker (2012-14, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Columbia University)

Floyd St. Bernard (2013, Dept. of Chemistry, Columbia University)