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.
You can talk to me about fantasy & sci-fi books, the oppression of societal norms, and the problems you see in higher education.
Lab members & affiliates
Jared Martin
Masters student
Jared is studying phylogenetic dating methods in a collaboration between UIUC, CUNY, and Temple University.
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Jared is knowledgeable about insects, arachnids and other invertebrate animals.
Johanna Schwartz, Ms
PhD Student
Johanna working on an NSF funded project for studying macro-morphological wing evolution in cockroaches and termites.
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Johanna completed her Masters thesis at the Ohio State University on systemetics of Platygastroidea (Hymenoptera) and has also worked on Satyrinae butterflies.
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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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Emmy Fiorella Medina Espinoza
Masters student (affiliate)
Emmy has studied the biogeography of dragonflies and damselflies, as well as the fauna of Peruvian cockroaches. She is currently working on biotic homogenization in impacted rivers in the northeastern Amazon.
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Emmy is knowledgeable about insects, tropical ecology, and conservation biology.
Former lab members
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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.