People

graduate training philosophy:

It’s simple, I stated it at the end of my “Tenure talk“ in 2015:

If you want to walk fast, walk alone.

If you want to go far, walk together.

African Proverb

Although the Ponciano lab has always been committed with graduate training of Latin American students, this has happened organically rather than by design if I am to be honest, because I am Guatemalan by birth and I love working and discussing science in Spanish. As hard as it is being an immigrant, being able to share what you do with people like you eases things enormously. That being said, there is much work to be done to rid Academia from implicit and explicit biases affecting minorities. I am deeply committed to actively seek funding to recruit and train individuals who otherwise would not have a chance to grow as a statistical ecologist or quantitative evolutionary biologist. As mentors in Academia, we must fight against racism and exclusion in any form. Finally, training does not end at graduation. Rather, that’s where it starts. I am also deeply committed to actively help students graduated from my lab secure a good placement. I’ve had the privilege to have a majority of students that, just as I did, are juggling early parenthood with academic training. Hence, helping them in those struggles is also part of my mentoring goals. Finally, most of my students are either mathematicians/physicists learning biology or biologists learning statistical mathematics and stochastic processes. Both journeys have their own rewards and difficulties and I very much enjoy witnessing it first hand over and over. The results never cease to amaze me. I am thankful for having the privilege to do what I do. Anyways, here’s the people in the Ponciano lab:

Current Student

PhD Alumni, UF

CIMAT ALUMNI

Adrian (Mexico) was my Masters student at CIMAT in the program of Applied Mathematics. He later went on to do a PhD in Systems Biology at Harvard. He now works at Weill Cornell Medicine Institute solving real life disease problems. He recently earned a pretty prestigious grant to study Tuberculosis in developing countries. With this grant, he is funding his postdoc and will carry enough funds to establish his lab later on. Way to go Adrian!!!!!

Current participation in Dissertation committees

1. Alcala Briseno,Ricardo Ivan, Ph.D. Plant Pathology

2. Anderson,David M, Ph.D. Zoology

3. Chaudhary,Vratika. Ph.D. Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

4. Fisch,Nicholas C, Ph.D. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences

5. Hans,Natya Member, Ph.D. Botany

6. Iruegas Bocardo,Fernanda, Ph.D. Plant Pathology

7. Montalvo,Luis Daniel, Ph.D. Zoology

8. Park,John Y Member, Ph.D. Botany

9. Peniston,James H, Ph.D. Zoology

10. Smith,Thomas Arthur, Ph.D. Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

11. Talla Kouete,Marcel, Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Ecology

12. Welker,Jonathan S, Ph.D. Mathematics

Past participation in Dissertation committees

1. Lindsay Johnson, PhD, Biology (May 2020). ``Phenotypic Effects of Spontaneous Mutations in Caenorhabditis elegans.''

2. Miroslaw Binder, PhD, Mathematics (Dec 2019). ``Model of a Co-Circulation of Two Vector Borne Diseases (Zika / Dengue).''

3. Simona Picardi, PhD, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (Dec 2019).``Movement Ecology of Wood Storks in the Southeastern U.S.''

4. Rashidah Farid, PhD, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (May 2019). ``Demography and Population Dynamics of the Gunnison's Prairie Dog (Cynomys Gunnisoni) in the Southwest United States.'

5. Arthur Rudolph, PhD, Zoology (May 2019). ``Ecological and Evolutionary Dynamics of Flocculation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.''

6. Morgan A. Walker, Ms, Geography (May 2019).``Ungulate Use of Locally Infectious Zones (Lizs) in a Re-Emerging Anthrax Risk Area.''

7. Anni Yang, PhD, Geography (May 2019). ``Multi-Scale Modeling of Zoonoses: Exploring Two Indirectly Transmitted Pathogens in Southwestern Montana.''

8. Jennifer F. Moore, PhD, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation (Aug 2018).``Ecology and Conservation of Mammalian Communities and the Impact of Illegal Human Activities in Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda.''

9. Tania Chavarria Pizarro, PhD, Biology (May 2018).``Genetic and Phenotypic Population Structure of an Endemic Mangrove Warbler Subspecies (Setophaga petechia xanthotera) along an Environmental Gradient in Costa Rica.''

10. Kristen Sauby, PhD, Biology (Dec 2017).``The Demographic Consequences of Native and Invasive Insect Herbivory for Native Cacti in Florida.''

11. Rebecca Borchering, PhD, Biology (May 2017).``Population Thresholds and Disease Ecology.''

12. Ruslandi Ruslandi, PhD Biology, (June 2016). ``Silvicultural Intensification in Natural Forests in Indonesia: Consequences for Timber Yields, Carbon Dynamics, Tree Species Composition, and Profits.''

13. Gonzalo Rivas, PhD Wildlife Ecology and conservation (August 2015).``Ecological and Socioeconomic Effects of an Invasive Canopy Tree in the Galapagos Islands.''

14. Juan Torres, PhD Mathematics, University of Florida (Spring 2015).``Dynamics of Low and High Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Birds.''

15. Oscar Murillo Garc\'ia, PhD Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida (Aug 2014).``Demography of Population Recovery: Discerning Pesticide Effects on Survival, Territory Occupancy and Breeding Success of Peregrine Falcons (Falco Peregrinus) in South Scotland.''

16. Alexander Shenkin, PhD, Interdisciplinary Ecology (May 2014).``Fates of Trees and Forests in Boliva Subjected to Selective Logging, Fire, and Climate Change.''
    \item Carrie Vath, PhD, Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida (May 2014).``Social and Economic Dimensions of the Bushmeat Trade in Cross River State Nigeria: An Ethno-Biological Appraoch to Conservation.''

17. Andrew Barbour, PhD, Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, University of Florida (Dec 2013).``Processes Affecting Nursery Habitat Value of an Estuarine-Dependent Fish.''

18. Ari Martinez, PhD, Biology (May 2013).``Interspecific Communication and Its Consequences for the Organization of Permanent Mixed-Species Bird Flocks.''

19. Olivia Prosper, PhD, Mathematics (May 2012). ```Modeling heterogeneities in Malaria.''

20. Mónica Itzuri Delgado Carrillo, Undergraduate Thesis, Mathematics (Dec 2009). ``Mathematical modeling of bacterial growth curves for heavy-metal resistant strains''.

21. Cristina García Arboleda, Ms, Probability and Statistics (Dec 2008) ``Unified estimation for the Galton-Watson process with immigration.''

22. Lidia Ery Toledo Rodriguez Ms, Probability and Statistics (Dec 2008). ``Modeling of Cerambicids population dynamics in Agave plantations.''

23. José Arturo Montoya Laos, PhD, Probability and Statistics (Dec 2008). `` The Likelihood profile in statistical inference.''

24. Juan Carlos Hern\'andez G\'omez, PhD, Applied Mathematics (Dec 2008). ``$R_{0}$ and some generalizations in cellular automata.''

25. Francisco Javier Rubio \'Alvarez, Ms Probability and Statistics (Dec 2008).``Statistical modeling of the ratio of two means from two normal random variables.''

If you want to walk fast, walk alone.

If you want to go far, walk together.

African Proverb