معرفی
Matina Donaldson-Matasci is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA. She holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Reed College and a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Washington. Her postdoctoral training includes positions at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of Arizona.
Teaching Portfolio: She leads diverse courses including Introductory Biology, Biostatistics, Experimental Ecology Laboratory, Computational Biology, and specialized topics in Behavioral Ecology and Game Theory. Courses feature hands-on laboratory components and interdisciplinary approaches connecting biology with mathematics.
Research Focus: As director of the HMC Bee Lab, she investigates collective behavior in social insects using field experiments (honey bees), lab studies (arboreal ants), mathematical modeling, and computational simulations. Key research themes include:
- Communication systems in foraging and defense
- Emergent network formation in ant colonies
- Adaptive responses to environmental variability
- Evolutionary optimization of group decision-making
Awards: Received Honorable Mention for the ASN Student Paper Award (2013) for work on information reliability in ecological systems.
Student Advising: Actively mentors undergraduate and high school researchers in experimental design and computational modeling, with several appearing as co-authors on publications. Lab projects emphasize field ecology techniques and theoretical frameworks.
