Eli Strauss

Dr. Eli Strauss is a behavioral ecologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at Michigan State University, where he is establishing a lab focused on the evolution and ecology of social behavior. He co-directs the Mara Hyena Project, a long-term study of hyena behavior and ecology in Kenya. His research spans dominance hierarchies, longitudinal studies of animal societies, and computational methods for analyzing social dynamics.

He has developed tools like the DynaRankR R package for inferring longitudinal dominance hierarchies and DomArchive for compiling dominance data. His work addresses challenges such as mismatched timescales in behavioral studies and demographic drivers of hierarchy dynamics, often using spotted hyenas as a model species.

Dr. Strauss is currently recruiting lab members for graduate student, postdoc, and technical roles, with lab establishment planned for late 2025–Fall 2026. His publications reflect interdisciplinary interests in behavioral ecology, animal societies, and data-driven approaches to understanding dominance and social networks.