Meet the PI

Dr. chris schell

Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management at UC Berkeley

Dr. Christopher J. Schell is an urban ecologist, professor, Afrofuturist, father, and writer. Research in the Schell Lab combines animal behavior, physiology, urban biodiversity conservation, environmental justice, and One Health to investigate how carnivores – namely coyotes, foxes, and raccoons – adapt to life in cities. In addition, Schell’s lab integrates critical discourses on how structural oppression (e.g., redlining, pollution burden, and socioeconomic disparities) directly shape the very urban features associated with human-wildlife interactions, conflict, and adaptation. This transdisciplinary work aims to disentangle how environmental injustices have structured our urban ecosystems and how we can harness those lessons to build more just, biodiverse, and resilient cities.

Schell is a National Geographic Explorer, Grist Fixer, Cal Academy Fellow and Board Member, and Affiliate Faculty with the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, with his work featured in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Vox Explained, and various NPR radio events.

A born-and-raised Los Angeleno now firmly planted in the Bay Area, Schell weaves his lived experiences as a Black man and Californian to co-produce justice- and equity-centered research programs with local communities that regenerate urban nature, environmental health, and access for all peoples.

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Meet the Team

Members of the Schell Lab Group

Christine Wilkinson, PhD (she/they)

Postdoctoral Scholar (UC Berkeley, Cal Academy of Sciences, Schmidt Fellow)

Dr. Wilkinson’s research interests include multidisciplinary mapping, the social-ecological drivers of human-wildlife conflict, carnivore movement ecology, and using participatory methods for more effective and inclusive conservation outcomes.

Read more about and from Christine on Google Scholar, at her website, on TikTok, and on Twitter.

Lauren Stanton, PhD (She/Her)

Postdoctoral Scholar (UC Berkeley)

Dr. Stanton’s research focuses on how animals use cognition to navigate social and environmental complexity, especially in urban areas. She investigates how humans and urban landscape heterogeneity stemming from societal inequities shape urban carnivore behavior through various mechanistic pathways (e.g. the gut-brain axis).

Read more about and from Lauren on Google Scholar, at her website, and on Twitter.

Elizabeth Carlen, PhD (She/Her)

Postdoctoral Scholar (co-advised by Dr. Jonathan Losos, Washington University of St. Louis)

Dr. Carlen’s research focuses on the impacts of urbanization and environmental racism in Eastern Gray Squirrels. She investigates how legacies of inequity have profound impacts on the population genomics of squirrels, providing direct insight into how past inequities have consequences in the present and into the future.

Read more about and from Liz on Google Scholar, at her website, and on Twitter.

Yasmine Hentati (She/Her)

PhD Candidate (University of Washington; co-advised by Dr. Laura Prugh)

Yasmine’s research investigates how environmental health disparities and the heterogeneous distribution of urban pollutants and disturbances influence the organismal and community ecology of urban carnivores, as well as the various wildlife diseases and parasites they carry.

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Cesar Estien (He/They)

PhD Candidate (UC Berkeley)

Cesar’s research centers environmental (in)justice to fully understand landscapes and the factors that shape them for both humans and wildlife. Specifically, Cesar investigates the extent to which inequity and injustice influences environmental quality, wildlife ecology, biodiversity, and biodiversity sampling.

Read more about and from Cesar on Google Scholar, at their website, and on Twitter!

Tyus Williams (He/Him)

PhD Candidate (UC Berkeley)

Tyus’ research aims to highlight how carnivore communities are responding to environmental and anthropogenic modifications to establish effective conservation strategies as well as protection policies. He uses camera traps, collars, and spatial analytical tools to understand trophic cascades and intraguild conflict as a function of resource/space availability, dietary overlap, and global changes.

Read more about and from Tyus on Google Scholar, at his website, and on Twitter!

Summer Vance (She/Her)

PhD Candidate (UC Berkeley)

Summer’s research uses molecular tools to investigate the ecological, evolutionary, and social ramifications of human-carnivore conflict. Her additional interests include interests include genetics, ecology, and evolution - especially as they pertain to wildlife research and conservation

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Alexis Flores (She/Her)

PhD Candidate (UC Berkeley)

Alexis’ research focuses on zoonotic disease transmission, One Health, and wildlife disease ecology. For her PhD, she plans to continue researching zoonotic disease prevalence and transmission in urban systems from an environmental justice centered One Health framework. Specifically, she plans to focus on urban bat ecology and zoonotic disease potential/capacity in densely populated cities.

Email her, or follow her on Twitter!

Tali Caspi (She/Her)

PhD Candidate* (Affiliate member; UC Davis co-advised by Dr. Ben Sacks)

Tali’s research focuses on emerging patterns and underlying mechanisms of individual variation across the urban landscape to better understand the factors that allow animals to effectively respond to urbanization.

Read more about and from Tali on Google Scholar, at her website, and follow her on Twitter!

Samantha Kreling (She/Her)

PhD Candidate* (Affiliate member; University of Washington; advised by Dr. Laura Prugh)

Sam’s research centers around understanding how urban coyotes adapt to and thrive in the Greater Seattle Area. Specifically, her work aims to understand how urban coyotes partition resources differently than coyotes in non-urban areas, as well as how the cities shape gene flow, with potential implications for other large-bodied urban-dwelling species.

Email her and follow her on Twitter!

 

Lab Alumni

Phoebe Parker-Shames, PhD (She/Her)

Postdoctoral Scholar (co-advised by Dr. Justin Brashares, UC Berkeley)

Dr. Parker-Shames’ research ties regional policies with landscape ecology and their consequences for wildlife community interactions and individual animal responses. She currently investigates how light and noise (simulating sources from cannabis production) affect multi-taxa wildlife responses.

Read more about and from Phoebe on Google Scholar, at her website, and on Twitter.