Widespread Ecological Networks and their Dynamical Signatures

Cuello, William, Piscataway NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This award is made as part of the FY 2021 Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowships, MPS-Ascend Program. William Cuello is awarded this fellowship to conduct a program of research and education at Rutgers University in the mathematical sciences, including applications to other disciplines, under the mentorship of the sponsoring scientist Prof. Juan Bonachela. This is a project in mathematical ecology aimed at understanding and quantifying the impacts of human-induced environmental changes in ecosystems, such as their role on habitat fragmentation and changes that ultimately lead to the extinction of spices. Along with this research, Cuello will continue mentoring and outreach activities to broaden participation of Underrepresented Minorities in mathematical sciences. The project encompasses mathematical research, including graph theory, algebraic topology and dynamical systems, software development and cross-verification and testing of ecological data. The mathematical and modeling approaches are envisioned to close the gap between the traditional approaches of mathematical ecology, involving growing numbers of coupled, nonlinear ODEs with many parameters, and the coarser networks analysis methods that usually discard too much information. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.