My name is Ketki Samel, and I'm a PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology department at the University of Connecticut. As a member of Chris Elphick's lab at UConn, I plan to focus on ornithology, ecology, and conservation. In particular, I'm interested in understanding how birds interact with each other and with humans, especially during periods of global change.
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Before I came to UConn, I spent my undergraduate years at UC Berkeley studying integrative biology. For two years, I conducted fieldwork and data analysis with PhD candidate Kwasi Wrensford, studying behavioral adaptations to climate change among chipmunks of the Sierra Nevada. In 2020, as the number of people on UC Berkeley's campus dropped dramatically due to COVID-19, I also carried out an independent project looking into changes in community composition among campus birds.
When I'm not on campus, I love to take my camera outdoors and explore natural places!
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