Steve C. Wang: Lab members and collaborators

Steve C. Wang: Lab members and collaborators

Lab lunch at Axum Ethiopian Restaurant in Indianapolis during the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, 2018.
L to R: Melissa Zavez '20, Haochen Wang '20, Steve, Harsha Sen '19, Clara Habermeier '17, and Madison Shoraka '20

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Current students and alumni

I often work with Swarthmore students on research projects, either during the school year (for academic credit) or during the summer (for pay). The main qualities I am looking for are curiosity, perseverance, and attention to detail. In terms of courses, the preferred prerequisite is CS 21 or equivalent. Stat 51 is helpful, but some combination of Stat 11, Stat 21, Bio 2, or other experience may suffice as well. No paleontology background is necessary. Here is a short video about working on summer research with me. If you're interested, please email me -- I'd be happy to hear from you.

Students in my lab have often presented posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meetings (GSA), the main national conference for invertebrate paleontology research. Read about our trips to the GSA in Indianapolis (2018), Denver (2016) and Baltimore (2015).

Berenice Benitez-Carlos '26, Sumin Byun '25, and Abe Porschet '25 (Summer 2024)

Berenice, Sumin, and Abe (left to right) worked on using multivariate statistics to summarize and visualize data on life habits over the Phanerozoic, together with Phil Novack-Gottshall. Berenice is majoring in psychology and mathematics (with an emphasis in statistics). Sumin is majoring in mathematics (with an emphasis in statistics) and computer science. Abe is majoring in mathematics and computer science.

Joyce Ben '25, Zach Potthoff '25, Pradip Sharma Poudel '25, and Anhad Singh '26 (Summer 2023)

Zach, Joyce, Pradip, and Anhad (left to right) worked on estimating the number of morphological rate partitions in a phylogenetic tree, together with Graeme Lloyd. Joyce and Zach presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Pittsburgh, 2023) and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2023), and all four are co-authors of a GSA abstract. Joyce, Zach, and Pradip are all majoring in mathematics and computer science. Anhad is majoring in economics and mathematics with a minor in statistics.

Emma Jin '23, Xinxin Li '25, and Victoria Song '23 (Fall 2022-Spring 2023)

Emma, Xinxin (left to right), and Victoria worked on comparing the age selectivity of modern and past extinctions. Emma majored in computer science with minors in statistics and English literature and is currently a grad student in computer science at UPenn. Xinxin is majoring in mathematics and computer science. Victoria majored in mathematics (with an emphasis in statistics) and computer science and is currently a data scientist.

Sumin Byun '25, Alex Li '25, and Ella Yadav '23 (Fall 2022-Spring 2023)

Sumin, Alex, and Ella (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. Alex is majoring in mathematics and computer science. Ella majored in mathematics (with an emphasis in statistics) and economics. She is currently a graduate student in statistics at Stanford. For more on Sumin, see above.

Sumin Byun '25, Xinxin Li '25, Alex Li '25, and Ella Yadav '23 (Summer 2022)

Alex, Xinxin, Sumin, and Ella (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. Alex and Xinxin are majoring in mathematics and computer science. For more on Sumin and Ella, see above.

Sumin Byun '25 (Spring 2022) , Jason Kim '22 (Fall 2021-Spring 2022)

Sumin and Jason worked on estimating the population size of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered large cetacean species. Jason majored in mathematics and computer science. He earned an MS in data science from Harvard and is now a software engineer. For more on Sumin, see above.

Dohyun Lee '22, Satyaa Suresh '22, Ella Yadav '23, and Hellman Zhao '23 (Summer 2021)

Dohyun, Satyaa, Ella, and Hellman (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. Dohyun majored in mathematics. He earned an MS in statistics from Yale and is now working in public health. Satyaa majored in mathematics (with a statistics emphasis) and economics. Hellman majored in computer science with minors in statistics and engineering and is currently a grad student in cybersecurity at UCSD. For more on Ella, see above.

Emma Jin '23 and Jiung Jung '21 (Spring 2021)

Emma and Jiung (left ot right) worked on methods for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. Jiung majored in math (with a statistics emphasis) and economics; he now works in research. For more on Emma, see above.

Jason Kim '22 and Horace Shew '22 (Summer 2020-Spring 2021)

Jason and Horace (left to right) worked on estimating the population size of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered large cetacean species. Horace majored in mathematics with a minor in classical studies and is now working in architecture. For more on Jason, see above.

Peem Lerdputtipongporn '21 and Danielle Rossetti Dos Santos '21 (Summer-Fall 2020)

Peem and Danielle (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. Danielle majored in mathematics and computer science. Peem majored in mathematics and computer science. He is now a graduate student in statistics at Carnegie Mellon University.

Vitor Dos Anjos '21 (Spring 2020, Fall 2020)

Vitor worked on estimating the population size of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered large cetacean species. He majored in biology with minors in Computer Science and in Latin American and Latino Studies. He is now a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University.

Runa Cheng '20 (Fall 2019-Spring 2020) Haochen Wang '20 (Fall 2019)

Runa and Haochen (left to right) worked with Graeme Lloyd and me on testing evolutionary rates in phylogenetic trees. Runa majored in biology with minors in statistics and chemistry and is now an MD/PhD student at UCSF. Haochen majored in math (with a statistics emphasis) and computer science and is now working in software engineering.

Ian Garrison '18 (Spring 2020)

Ian worked with Ken Lacovara and me on a project on sauropod dinosaur body size. Ian majored in biology with minors in environmental studies and history. He earned an MS in museum studies from the University of Colorado.

Tai Thongthai '21 and Claudia Xu '21 (Fall 2019)

Tai and Claudia (left to right) worked on estimating the population size of the North Atlantic right whale, the most endangered large cetacean species. Tai majored in economics and computer science. Claudia majored in math with minors in computer science and psychology.

Kevin Choi '21 (Spring 2019-Fall 2019) and Eric Zhang '22 (Summer 2019-Fall 2019)

Eric and Kevin worked on estimating the duration of a mass extinction. They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Phoenix, 2019) and are co-authors of two GSA abstracts (1, 2). Kevin majored in economics and mathematics and is now a PhD student in economics at Boston College. Eric majored in math.

Thibault Vernier '21 (Summer 2019)

Thibault worked on estimating the population size of the North Atlantic right whale, the most endangered large cetacean species. He majored in computer science and is now a software engineer.

Swarthmore Projects for Educational Exploration and Development (SPEED) (Summer 2019)

The SPEED team, particularly Nabil Kashyap, Bilal Soukouna, Alice Huang, and Helen Huh, worked on visualizing methods for assessing career and peak WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for baseball players.

Sebastian Mintah '19 (Spring 2019)

Sebastian worked on visualizing data using Chernoff faces. He majored in math and economics and is now an economist.

Madison Shoraka '20 (Summer 2018-Spring 2019) and Melissa Zavez '20 (Summer 2018, Fall 2018)

Madison and Melissa (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Indianapolis, 2018) and are co-authors of a GSA abstract. Melissa majored in computer science with a minor in statistics and is now a software engineer. Madison majored in math with a minor in peace and conflict studies and is now a PhD student in applied math at Temple.

Harsha Sen '19 (Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019)

Harsha worked on data analysis for the tempo and duration of the Cambrian explosion, and also on primate evolution. He presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Indianapolis, 2018) and is a co-author of a GSA abstract. He majored in biology and economics and is now a PhD student in molecular biology at Princeton University.

Haochen Wang '20 and John Wojchiehowski '19 (Summer 2018-Spring 2019)

Haochen and John(left to right) worked on comparing the age selectivity of modern and past extinctions. Haochen presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Indianapolis, 2018). They are co-authors of two GSA abstracts (1, 2) John majored in math and theater and is now an analyst. For more on Haochen, see above.

Pravadh Singh '19 (Fall 2018-Spring 2019)

Pravadh worked on comparing the selectivity of modern and past extinctions, and also on primate evolution. He majored in math (with an emphasis in statistics) and is now a data scientist.

Jihye Yoon '21 (Spring 2019)

Jihye worked on primate evolution. She majored in math and biology and is now a PhD student in developmental biology at Washington U.

Zoey Werbin '17 (Fall 2015-Fall 2018)

Zoey is working on a project she designed on comparing the selectivity of modern and past extinctions. We were awarded an NSF grant based on preliminary work she did as an undergrad and are continuing this work. Zoey presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Denver, 2016) and is a co-author of three GSA abstracts (1, 2, 3) Zoey majored in biology with a minor in environmental studies. She earned a PhD in microbial ecology at Boston University.

Richard Conti '19 (Fall 2018)

Richard worked on methods for assessing career and peak WAR (Wins Above Replacement) for baseball players. He majored in math and economics and now works in product development.

Clara Habermeier '17 (Spring 2018-Summer 2018)

Clara is working on comparing the selectivity of modern and past extinctions. She presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Indianapolis, 2018) and is a co-author of two GSA abstracts (1, 2) She majored in economics with a minor in math and now works in research.

Becky Tang '18 (Fall 2017)

Becky worked on methods for accounting for dating uncertainty in paleontological analyses. She is a co-author of a GSA abstract. Becky majored in computer science and math (with a statistics emphasis). She earned a PhD in statistics at Duke University and is now a professor of statistics at Middlebury College.

Jason Lin '18 and Lan Ngo '19 (Summer 2017)

Jason and Lan (left to right) worked on methods for combining confidence intervals. They presented a poster at the Joint Statistical Meetings (Baltimore, 2017). They are co-authors of a GSA abstract. Jason majored in math and computer science. He earned an MS in statistics at UCSD and now works in machine learning. Lan majored in math and is now a software engineer.

Mayank Agrawal '18 (Fall 2016)

Mayank worked on selectivity of origination. He majored in computer science and philosophy with a minor in math. He earned a PhD in psychology and neuroscience at Princeton and now works in fraud detection.

Jason Lin '18 and Tuan Nguyen '18 (Summer 2016)

Jason and Tuan (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the tempo and duration of the Cambrian explosion. They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Denver, 2016) and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2016), and are co-authors of a GSA abstract. Tuan majored in math (with a statistics emphasis) and computer science and now works in data science. For more on Jason, see above.

Katrina Midgley '17 and Tuan Nguyen '18 (Spring 2016)

Katrina and Tuan (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the tempo and duration of the Cambrian explosion. They presented a poster at the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2016) and are co-authors of a GSA abstract. Katrina majored in computer science with a minor in statistics and now works in product development. For more info on Tuan, see above.

Tushar Kundu '17 (Spring 2015, Spring 2016)

Tushar is studying the phenomenon of "dead clade walking" after mass extinctions. He presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Denver, 2016) and is a co-author of a GSA abstract. He majored in economics with a minor in statistics and is now a PhD student in economics at Columbia.

Brandon Chow '17 (Fall 2014-Spring 2015, Fall 2015) and Meghana Ranganathan '17 (Fall 2014-Spring 2015)

Brandon (second from right) and Meghana (far right) implemented Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) algorithms to study the end-Permian mass extinction and its effects on food webs. This project was in collaboration with Peter Roopnarine of the California Academy of Sciences (left) and Ken Angielczyk of the Field Museum (not shown). They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Baltimore, 2015) and are co-authors of a GSA abstract. Brandon majored in math (with an emphasis in statistics) and computer science. He earned a PhD in statistics at Yale and is now a data scientist. Meghana majored in math. She earned a PhD student in atmospheric sciences at MIT and is now a professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago.

Leonie Cohen '16 (Spring 2015, Fall 2015)

Leonie worked on a project she designed on the evolution of catarrhine primates, specifically the divergence of Hominoidea and Cercopithecoidea. She presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Baltimore, 2015) She is a co-author on two GSA abstracts (1, 2). Leonie majored in biological anthropology. She earned an MSW at Simmons University and is currently a clinician.

Daniel Wang '17 and Heather Zhou '16 (Summer 2015)

Heather and Daniel (left to right) worked on methods for estimating the tempo and duration of the Cambrian explosion. They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Baltimore, 2015) and are co-authors of two GSA abstracts (1, 2). Daniel majored in math with a minor in computer science and now works in insurance. Heather majored in math and economics. She earned a PhD in statistics at UCLA and now works in biostatistics at UCLA.

Heather Zhou '16 (Spring 2015)

Heather worked on two projects: (1) estimating the duration of the Cambrian explosion, and (2) confidence intervals on stratigraphic ranges when recovery potential is not uniform. She presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Baltimore, 2015) and is a co-author on a 2016 paper in Paleobiology. She is also a co-author on three GSA abstracts (1, 2, 3). For more info on Heather, see above.

Richard Liang '15 and Ben Xie '16 (Spring 2014)

Richard and Ben (left to right) worked on parallelizing the algorithms for estimating the number of pulses in a mass extinction. Ben majored in computer science with minors in statistics and English literature, and currently works in software engineering. Richard majored in computer science and math and also currently works in software engineering.

Linda Gai '15 and Chengying Wang '15 (Summer 2013)

Linda (far right) and Chengying (second from right) worked on estimating the tempo of the Cambrian explosion. They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Denver, 2013) and are co-authors on four GSA abstracts (1, 2, 3, 4). Linda majored in math (with emphasis in statistics) with a minor in biology. She earned an MS in biostatistics at Johns Hopkins and is now a data scientist. Chengying majored in math and computer science and now works in insurance. At left is the rest of our research group: Adam Maloof (Princeton), Susannah Porter (UCSB), and a friend (Late Jurassic). (Not in photo: John Moore, UCSB.)

Peter Gao, Strath Haven High School '13 (Summer 2013)

Peter studied the effectiveness of visualizing complex datasets using Chernoff faces. He earned a BS and MS in statistics from the University of Chicago and a PhD from the University of Washington. He is now a professor of statistics and data science at San Jose State.

Ling Zhong '13 (Summer 2011, Spring 2013)

Ling worked on three projects: (1) assessing the population size of the North Atlantic right whale, one of the most endangered large cetacean species, (2) estimating the number of pulses in a mass extinction, and (3) the effect of incomplete preservation in estimating the incidence of drilling predation on bivalves. She presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Minneapolis, 2011) and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2011). She is a co-author of a 2018 paper in Paleobiology, and a co-author of two GSA abstracts (1, 2). Ling majored in math and economics and earned a PhD in economics at Yale University. She is currently a professor of economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Hong Kong.

Sally Chang '11 (Spring 2011)

Sally worked on extinction selectivity in mass extinctions. She majored in biology and medieval studies at Swarthmore and earned a PhD in evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas. She currently works in bioinformatics at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Brendan McVeigh '11 and Aaron Osgood-Zimmerman '11 (Summer 2010)

Brendan and Aaron (left to right) worked on confidence intervals for estimating the duration of a mass extinction. They presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Denver, 2010) and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2010). They are co-authors of a 2012 paper in Paleobiology and a GSA abstract. Brendan majored in math with a minor in physics and earned a PhD in statistics at Carnegie Mellon. He is currently a data scientist. Aaron majored in math and engineering and earned a PhD in statistics at the University of Washington. He is currently a professor of mathematics at Bucknell.

Brianna Rego Lind, Stanford MS '10 (as second reader; Primary advisor: Jonathan Payne)

Brianna worked on the evolution of body size in foraminifera and the effect of mass extinctions and recoveries on size trends. She is the lead author of a 2012 paper in Paleobiology and a co-author of a 2016 paper also in Paleobiology. She is also a co-author of four GSA abstracts (1, 2, 3, 4). Brianna earned her PhD in history of science at Stanford University and is currently a science writer.

Heidi Wong '10 (Summer 2008)

Heidi worked on two projects: (1) confidence intervals for estimating the duration of a mass extinction, and (2) visualizing complex datasets using Chernoff faces. For the first topic, she presented a poster at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Portland, 2009) and is a co-author of a 2012 paper in Paleobiology and two GSA abstracts (1, 2). Heidi majored in cognitive science with a minor in statistics. She earned an M. Arch. in architecture and an MS in human-computer interaction from the University of Michigan and currently works in UX design.

Dasol Park '10 (Summer 2008)

Dasol worked on confidence intervals for stratigraphic ranges when recovery potential is non-uniform. He presented posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Houston, 2008) and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2008). He is a co-author of a 2016 paper in Paleobiology and three GSA abstracts (1, 2, 3). Dasol majored in math and computer science and currently works in finance.

Libin (Geoffrey) Sun '10 (Summer 2008)

Geoffrey worked on Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms for estimating extinction levels in the end-Permian extinction. He presented posters at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Houston, 2008) and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2008). He is a co-author of a GSA abstract. Geoffrey majored in math and computer science. He earned a PhD in computer science at Brown University and currently works in imaging.

David Chudzicki '07 (Summer 2007)

David worked on confidence intervals for stratigraphic ranges when recovery potential is non-uniform. He is a co-author of a 2009 paper in Paleobiology and a 2016 paper also in Paleobiology. He is also a co-author of three GSA abstracts (1, 2, 3). David majored in math with a minor in linguistics. He earned an MS in mathematics from the University of Chicago and currently works in data science.

Michael Karcher '07 (Summer 2006, Summer 2007)

Mike worked on Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms for estimating extinction levels in the end-Permian mass extinction. He presented posters at the Geological Society of America (Philadelphia, 2006), the Joint Statistical Meetings (Salt Lake City, 2007), the Smithsonian-UPenn Geobiology Symposium (Washington, DC, 2007), and the Sigma Xi poster session (Swarthmore, 2007). He is a co-author of two GSA abstracts (1, 2). Mike majored in math with a minor in English and earned a PhD in statistics from the University of Washington. He is now a professor of statistics at Muhlenberg College.

Current and former collaborators

Ken Angielczyk, Field Museum (photo below)

Richard Bambach, Smithsonian

Steve Brusatte, University of Edinburgh

Robert Brandon, Duke

Andy Bush, Connecticut

Peter Dodson, UPenn

Andrew Du, Colorado State University

Phil Everson, Swarthmore

Seth Finnegan, UC Berkeley

Jessica Todd Harper, Jessica Todd Harper Photography

Noel Heim, Stanford

Andrew Knoll, Harvard

Matthew Knope, Hawaii

Michal Kowalewski, Florida

Graeme Lloyd, Leeds (UK)

Charles Marshall, UC Berkeley

Adam Maloof, Princeton

Dan McShea, Duke

John Moore, UC Santa Barbara

Phil Novack-Gottshall, Benedictine U.

Sophia Passy, U. of Texas-Arlington

Jon Payne, Stanford (photo above)

Susannah Porter, UC Santa Barbara

David Roberts, U. of Kent

Peter Roopnarine, California Academy of Sciences (photo at left)

Ellen Schaal, DePaul U.

Felisa Smith, U. of New Mexico

Stephanie Smith, Field Museum

Andrew Solow, Woods Hole

Working group on body size macroevolution and macroecology, National Evolutionary Synthesis Center

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