The Ethogram was founded in 2014 by graduate students Katrina Brock, Emily Burke, Grace Davis, Sean Ehlman, Kelly Finn, Aaron Haiman, Ryane Logsdon, Tez Stair, and Eric Van Cleave. While The Ethogram has evolved and expanded over the years, we hold the original intentions of our founders: making scientific topics and findings more accessible to non-scientists through articles, videos, and other multimedia communication.

Isabelle (she/her) is an animal behavior PhD candidate and a part of the Center for Animal Welfare at UC Davis. She currently studies the abnormal behaviors of dairy cattle, and how these behaviors are related to animal welfare. Isabelle is also interested in teaching and mentorship of students of all ages. When she’s not working with her cows, she enjoys spending time with her dog and kitten, reading, and watching scary movies.

• Editor-in-Chief. (Spring 2024-Present)
• News Room Editor (Winter 2023 – Present)
• Sunday Sketch Editor (Fall 2021 – Present)
• Social Media Coordinator (2020 – Present)
• Writer / Contributor (Fall 2020 – Present)

Jessica (she/her) is interested in the evolution of mating systems and studies how organisms’ environment and interactions influence their reproductive behavior.  Her research spans species from shorebirds in the Sierra Nevada to marine invertebrates in the tropical rocky intertidal.  Jessica is also passionate about education and served as program coordinator for an intertidal citizen science project for K12 students in Hawaiʻi.  She is currently a PhD candidate in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group at UC Davis.

• Editor-in-Chief (Spring 2022 – Winter 2024)
• Science Heroes editor (Fall 2024-Present)
• Education & Outreach Coordinator (Spring 2020 – Present)
• Creature Feature Editor (Fall 2019 – Winter 2021) 
• Animal Behavior Society Outreach Grant co-author (Fall 2019)
• Writer / Contributor (Fall 2019 – Present)

Jacob (he/him) is an Animal Behavior PhD student interested in how animals use different behavioral strategies to cope with unusual and/or harsh environments. His research projects feature work in wildfire-affected areas with Dark-eyed Juncos, cityscapes with Black Phoebes, and in the lab with Wolf Spiders and Carpenter Bees. He is also an active science communicator in a wide array of media and moonlights as a jazz saxophonist in his free time

• Creature Feature Editor (Winter 2023 – Present)
• Writer / Contributor (Fall 2020 – Present)

Sabrina (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Animal Behavior program. She is in Dr. Bales’ lab where she studies the neurobiology and epigenetics of pair bond formation and maintenance in seahorses and prairie voles. She currently is interested in the behaviors that are involved in pair bonding and what underlying mechanisms drive this interesting and uncommon mating strategy. When she’s not in the lab, she loves fostering kittens, hiking, and playing video games

• Science & Culture Editor (Fall 2021 – Present)
• Writer / Contributor (Summer 2020 – Present)

Nicole (she/her) is a graduate student in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group at UC Davis. She’s interested in the dynamics of social insect colonies, specifically in collective decision-making and the self-organization of complex behaviors.

• Young Explorers Editor (Fall 2020 – Present)
• Education & Outreach Contributor (Fall 2020 – Present)
• Writer / Contributor (Fall 2019 – Present)

Cassidy (she/her) is interested in how variable, dynamic environments drive plastic physiological responses and further how those changes will influence ongoing environmental interactions. She is a graduate student in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group at UC Davis, and Cassidy is currently investigating how factors such as temperature and energetic state affect the performance of California native species including Chinook Salmon.

• Education & Outreach Contributor (Fall 2020 – Present)
• Field Notes Editor (Winter 2023 – Present)

Alice (she/her) studies the movement patterns and between-group social behavior of gorillas in community-managed forests. Her research uses noninvasive methods, including both traditional tracking and new technologies, like bioacoustics and remote imaging, to study elusive wild animals while minimizing disturbance and collaborating with local communities. She is currently a 5th-year PhD candidate in the Animal Behavior Grad Group in Damien Caillaud’s lab. When she’s not wading through the swamp forest or wading through acoustic data, she enjoys spending time running, biking, and hanging out with friends and family in the California sun.

• Creature Feature Editor (Winter 2023-Present)

Nicole (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology program. She is studying the effects wood biochar can have on invasive Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in California and native Culex tarsalis mosquitoes. Biochar, is a byproduct of wildfires. Aside from her academic pursuits, she enjoys drawing, crafting, and listening to fictional horror podcasts. Nicole is excited to continue her involvement with the Ethogram!

• Sunday Sketch editor (Winter 2024-present)

Siobhan (she/her) is a PhD student in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group. She works in Dr. Kate Laskowski’s lab on the amazing clonal Amazon molly fish (Poecilia formosa). She is interested in cognition and the impact of stress on learning and memory processes. She is currently working on designing and conducting an experiment assessing whether these fish can learn to associate a color cue with a reward and whether short-term exposure to stress influences this learning process. 

• Young Explorers Editor (Fall 2023-Present)

Izzy (she/her) is a PhD student in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group. She studies the pair bonding behavior of coppery titi monkeys in Dr. Karen Bales’ Laboratory for Comparative Neurobiology of Monogamy. In her spare time, she likes to crochet, hike, read, and go birding.

• Science and Culture Editor (Fall 2023-Present)

Brady Nichols (he/him) is a PhD student in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group. Brady studies the interplay between biomechanics and ecology of insects, and potentially working on turbulence and predator-prey interactions. He also has a passing interest in paleobiology and biogeography.

• Field Frame Editor (Fall 2024-Present)

Ruth Demree (she/her)

• Young Explorers Editor (Fall 2025-Present)