The Roach Brain Lab
for studying biodiversity through molecular systematics
Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor - Dominic A. Evangelista
I am an evolutionary biologist interested in how biodiversity originates through evolutionary processes.
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My current research aims to infer phylogenies using genome-scale data, map biological trends over evolutionary histories, and to improve upon phylogenetic methods.
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My past research explored palaeoentomology, tropical community ecology, niche evolution, and species delimitation.
Lab members & affiliates
Johanna Schwartz, Ms
PhD Student
Johanna is working on an NSF funded project for studying morphological evolution of wings in cockroaches and termites.
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Johanna completed her Masters thesis at the Ohio State University on systematics of Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera) and has also worked on Satyrinae butterflies.
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Emmy Fiorella Medina Espinoza, Ms
PhD Student
Emmy has studied the biogeography of dragonflies and damselflies, as well as the fauna of Peruvian cockroaches. For her Masters she researched biotic homogenization in impacted rivers in the northeastern Amazon. As a PhD student in the lab, Emmy will be doing research on conservation and biogeography of tropical insects.
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Emmy is knowledgeable about insects, tropical ecology, and conservation biology.
Archie-Em Walker
Masters Student
Archie started graduate school in 2025 and aims to study cockroach systematics with a focus on morphological diversification of secondary sexual morphology.
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Archie is knowledgeable about statistics, inclusion in entomology, and insect biodiversity.
Aaron Goodman, PhD
Postdoctoral researcher
I am a comparative biologist and ecologist investigating the evolutionary history, diversification, and persistence of insects.
I implement high-throughput molecular sequencing to reconstruct robust phylogenies of dragonflies (Odonata) and cockroaches (Blattodea). I investigate how specimen preservation, model adequacy, and gene tree discordance influence phylogenetic inference. I test how environmental heterogeneity and geography influence speciation, range dynamics, and persistence.
My past research explored the systematics, ecology, and morphology of scorpions.
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Katharine Vanker
Undergraduate student
Katie has worked in the Roach Brain Lab from 2023 - 2025. She is now one of the lab's taxonomists and is describing new species of cockroaches and digitizing our collection.
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Katie is interested in doing entomology for graduate school.
Former lab members
Jared Martin, Ms
Masters student
Jared wrote his masters thesis about phylogenetic dating methods and taxonomic bias in a collaboration between UIUC, CUNY, and AMNH.
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Jared is knowledgeable about insects, arachnids and other invertebrate animals.
Kim Drager, PhD
Research Technician
Kim is interested in the origins of insect behaviors; in particular, how insects interact with the soil environment.
Kim completed her Master's and doctoral theses on soil-dwelling ant nest architecture. She also enjoys keeping and photographing arthropods as a hobby.
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Huong Ruby Nguyen
Masters in biology
Ruby did her masters thesis on parental care and foraging behavior and has also worked on curating the lab specimen collection. She is interested in ecology and other fields of biology and intends on continuing her career in academia or science industry.
Ramya Banda
Undergraduate student
Ramya is studying fruit fly genetics in the Stumpf lab, as well as working on social justice research in a collaboration between the Roach Brain Lab, AMNH, and CAS (EntoPOC).
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Ramya is consistently one of Adelphi's top students and she is interested in dentistry.
Kaila Rainford-McDougall
Undergraduate student
Kaila is doing her senior capstone project on an investigation of coevolution between cockroaches and their endosymbionts.
Harsehej Anand
Undergraduate student
An accomplished student in the Honors College and NYU College of Dentistry Joint Degree Program.
President of Adelphi Sikhs United. Sehej has extensive experience with specimen curation and scientific photography. She also loves art, reading, learning about different cultures, and theology.
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Adam Niyazov
Undergraduate student
A biology major aspiring to become a doctor. Outside of class, Adam dedicates his time to gaining experience in various aspects of the healthcare world. Adam has worked extensively on curating the lab specimen collection.