Dustin Rubenstein

BIOGRAPHY

CURRENT POSITIONS:
• 2011- Faculty, Program in Neurobiology and Behavior, Columbia University
• 2010- Research Associate, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History
• 2010- Co-Chair, The University Seminar in Population Biology, Columbia University
• 2009- Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University
• 2006- Lab Associate, Fuller Evolutionary Biology Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• 2001- Visiting Scientist, Ornithology Section, National Museums of Kenya

EDUCATION:
• Postdoc University of California, Berkeley, Integrative Biology & Museum of Vertebrae Zoology, 2006 – 2009
• PhD Cornell University, Neurobiology and Behavior, 2006
• AB Dartmouth College, Biology & Environmental Studies & Earth Sciences (cum laude, high honors), 1999

SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS:
• American Ornithologists’ Union
• The American Society of Naturalists
• Animal Behavior Society
• Ecological Society of America
• International Society for Behavioral Ecology
• New York Academy of Sciences
• Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
• Society of Sigma Xi
• Society for Social Neuroscience

AWARDS:
• 2011 Young Investigator Award, Animal Behavior Society
• 2010 Columbia University Nomination for Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering
• 2010 The Ned K Johnson Young Investigator Award, American Ornithologists’ Union
• 2008 Young Investigators Symposium: Integrative Avian Biology, American Ornithologists’ Union
• 2007 Young Scientists Symposium: Evolutionary Ecology, University of Michigan
• 2006 Young Investigator’s Award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
• 2006 Society of Sigma Xi, Full Member, Cornell University
• 2004 Poster Award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
• 2001 Presentation Award, Society for Conservation Biology
• 1999 Society of Sigma Xi, Associate Member, Dartmouth College
• 1999 First Prize, 8th Annual Karen E Wetterhahn Science Symposium, Dartmouth College
• 1999 Florence Fletcher Charles Botany Prize, Dartmouth College Department of Biological Sciences
• 1999 Second Honor Group, Dartmouth College
• 1998 Third Honor Group, Dartmouth College
• 1997 Citation of Academic Achievement, Dartmouth College Department of Earth Sciences
• 1994 Finalist, International Science and Engineering Fair
• 1994 Grand Prize, Mercer Science and Engineering Fair

TRAVEL AWARDS:
• 2008 Conference Travel Award, National Academy of Sciences
• 2008 Conference Travel Award, American Ornithologists’ Union
• 2006 National Science Foundation Travel Award, North American Ornithological Congress
• 2006, '04 Conference Travel Award, International Society for Behavioral Ecology (declined 2006)
• 2006-2001 (6x) Conference Transportation Grant, Cornell University Graduate School
• 2005 Conference Travel Award, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
• 2003 Student Conference Support, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
• 2002 American Ornithologists’ Union Membership Grant
• 2001 Student Travel Award, Society for Conservation Biology

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Dr Rubenstein’s research takes an integrative approach to understanding the evolution of complex breeding systems (reproductive life histories, social systems, and mating systems) in vertebrates and invertebrates. As a behavioral and evolutionary ecologist, he studies how physiological and individual level processes contribute to larger scale phenomenon, but he approaches questions from an evolutionary perspective to examine the costs and benefits of different reproductive strategies, particularly the causes and consequences of sociality. He simultaneously strives to understand how proximate, physiological mechanisms govern reproductive roles and mating decisions in species living in complex social systems, and how those mechanisms may have influenced some of the ultimate explanations for the evolution and maintenance of those systems. Broadly, his work examines how physiological mechanisms, behavioral decisions, and other individual level processes influence population level processes and other larger scale phenomenon and patterns. Specifically, he seeks to understand how ecology shapes individual reproductive decisions and interspecific patterns of sociality by trying to unravel the interaction among physiology, life history, and behavior at different levels.

His work involves wild and captive individuals, and entails comparisons of closely related species and systems. He works broadly across regions, but also intensively at individual sites on long-term study populations. He employs a variety of lab techniques (molecular genetics, endocrinology, immunology, stable isotope analysis), field methodologies (behavioral observations, lab experiments, field manipulations), and statistical and theoretical approaches (comparative analyses, game theory modeling) to answer a broad range of questions in a diversity of taxa including birds, reptiles, and crustaceans.

HOME PAGE
http://www.columbia.edu/~dr2497/HOME.html