I am a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at Michigan State University. My research aims to disentangle abiotic and biotic factors driving biodiversity distribution and functioning in a changing world through integrated approaches. Currently, I focus on identifying key drivers of evolutionary and ecological processes that shape the phylogenetic and functional structure as well as trophic interactions of vertebrate communities at a macroecological scale. With a background in geography, I have a broad interest in human-wildlife-environment interactions in biodiversity conservation, incorporating multiple perspectives and spatial analyses.
News
Feb 2025
Zipkin Lab Outreach activity at Rockwern Academy in Cincinnati. We were excited to have activities to show the uncertainty in estimating wildlife population and how to use math in saving monarch!
Jan 2025
Thrilled to host the first MacroEcoEvo reading group meeting at Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, MSU!
Excited to be back to give a talk "Unraveling Historical Influences on Pantropical Diversity Disparity of Mammals" at Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica!
Oct 2024
Boo at Zoo! Participated in the MSU IBIO volunteer team and had a great time with the local community at Potter Park Zoo.
Sep 2024
Landed in Michigan State University! Excited to start my journey with amazing fellows at Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, MSU!!!
Having two Taiwanese mentees from Mentor-Mentee Program of Project Tyra, which is a voluntary program to foster Taiwanese prospective students to pursue graduate program abroad. Wish you all the best in applying EEB PhD in 2025 Fall!!!
July 2024
Successfully defended my doctoral dissertation on "Evolutionary history, Extinction, and Environmental Variability Shape the Tropical and Subtropical Diversity Disparity of Terrestrial Mammals." Hooray!!!
Apr 2024
Awarded the Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior at Michigan State University! See media press here: 2024-2025 Postdoc Fellow in MSU EEB
Rice EEB Owls Outreach activity at Raul Yzaguirre Schools for Success in Houston to talk about adaptation and natural selection!
Mar 2024
Paper on unraveling evolutionary and ecological drivers of vertebrate communities in world tropical rainforests just came out on Global Ecology and Biogeography! Check here: "Evolutionary history and environmental variability structure contemporary tropical vertebrate communities."
Jan 2024
Oral presentation on "Evolutionary history and environmental variability shape resource specialization in tropical mammals" at the Biennial Meeting of the International Biogeography Society in Prague, Czech Republic.
Invited Talk on "Effects of evolutionary history and environmental variability on
tropical vertebrates" at the Ecological and Evolutionary Biology Seminar, Michigan State University
Aug 2023
Oral presentation on "Evolutionary history and environmental changes shape trophic interactions of tropical mammals" at the 2023 ESA Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon.
May 2023
Awarded with a Departmental travel grant ($300 USD) from BioSciences, Rice University to attend the 2023 ESA annual meeting.
Mar 2023
Awarded with Graduate Teaching Award for Course Support, conferred by Rice's Center for Teaching Excellence. I am honored to be nominated and awarded for my service of assisting undergraduate and graduate students and course delivery on R programing and statistic analyses as a Teaching Assistant in BIOS 338/538 Analysis and Visualization of Biological Data in the 2022 Spring semester.
Aug 2022
New paper on food web degradation from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene published in Science entitled "Collapse of terrestrial mammal food webs since the late Pleistocene". Check out our perspectives here and press release here!
Oral presentation on "Evolutionary history, paleo- and contemporary environmental changes drive tropical mammal community structure", and co-organized the oral session "Macroecology of trophic interactions in a changing world" with Dr. Lydia Beaudrot at the 2022 ESA-CESS meeting, in Montreal, Canada.
Nominated and serving as Graduate Student Ambassador at Rice University to assist prospective students becoming graduate students! Meet Rice’s Graduate Ambassador Chia Hsieh
Jun 2022
Winning the Joe Davies Prize for Outstanding Service as a Teaching Assistant in BIOS 338/538 Analysis and Visualization of Biological Data in the 2022 Spring semester.
May 2022
Awarded with a travel grant ($1,000 USD) from the Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Rice University to attend the 2022 IBS conference.
Awarded with a travel grant ($500 USD) from the Women (and other gender minorities) in Natural Sciences Travel award, Rice University for the 2022 ESA conference in Montreal, Canada
Apr 2022
Pass the qualifying exam and officially become Ph.D. Candidate!
Nominated and elected as the Vice president of the Taiwanese Graduate Student Association at Rice University to serve our Taiwanese graduate students.
Dec 2021
Awarded with a Departmental travel grant ($300 USD) from BioSciences, Rice University to attend the 2022 IBS conference.
Nov 2021
Oral presentation "Evolutionary history, paleo- and contemporary abiotic filters drive tropical mammal community structure" at 2022 IBS conference, Vancouver is accepted and awarded with StudentTravel Award from the International Biogeography Society! (This conference was postponed to June 2022)
Aug 2021
Oral presentation on the group project led by EEB graduate students "Edge effects on species richness distributions in tropical forest protected areas" at the 2021 ESA conference
Jun 2021
Awarded Government scholarship to study abroad by the Ministry of Education, Taiwan ($32,000 USD for 2 years)
May 2021
Nominated and elected as the Representative of Departmental Graduate Student Association to serve EEB graduate students and participate in Rice graduate students' public affairs