Team

We are a small and growing team of researchers at Syracuse University in the biology department. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining!

Dr. Angela Oliverio

Assistant Professor, August 2022

Angela is an Assistant Professor at Syracuse University in the Biology Department as of August, 2022. Previously, she was an NSF Rules of Life Postdoctoral Fellow working with Mark Bradford (Yale) and Kelly Wrighton (Colorado State). Before that Angela worked in the biotech industry as computational biologist at Invitae on the data sciences team. She completed her PhD in the Fierer Lab at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she used predictive modeling to understand the quantitative ecology of microbial systems and their functional properties.  

[twitter: @am_oliverio] [Google Scholar] [GitHub] [email: amoliver@syr.edu]

Olivia Rojo Nava

Graduate Student

Olivia is interested in plant-microbe interactions, nutrient cycling, and identifying the factors that shape microbiomes, to predict how environmental changes will affect microbial community structure and function. Olivia earned a B.S in Biology and M.S. in Biological Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), where she analyzed the native and hybrid maize fungal diversity assessed through metabarcoding and worked alongside local farmers. In her spare time, Olivia enjoys gardening, hiking, and spending time with friends.

[GitHub] [email: orojonav@syr.edu]

Rachel Shepherd

Graduate Student

Rachel Shepherd received both her BS and MS in Entomology and Nematology from the University of Florida. Her MS degree focused on the impact of gopher tortoises on soil microbial communities. Interactions between aboveground and belowground communities is still her major research interests at Syracuse University in the Oliverio lab. Outside of the lab, Rachel enjoys spending time with her cats, gardening, and refinishing thrifted furniture.

[email: rmshephe@syr.edu]

Nimshika Pinto Jayathilaka Senewiratne

Graduate Student

Nimshika received a BS in Microbiology from University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka. Her BS project focused on using synthetic bacterial communities developed on biochar to increase the rates of enzyme production. Outside of the lab, Nimshika enjoys baking.

[email: npsenewi@syr.edu]
[github: https://github.com/Nimshika%5D

Hannah Rappaport

Research team member

Hannah earned a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Smith College. Hannah is from Orange, Connecticut, and outside of the lab she enjoys making art!

You?

Research team member

We are always interested in hearing from prospective undergraduates, graduates, or postdocs and are happy to discuss supporting applications for external fellowships, particularly at the postdoctoral level.

Baby Kitten

Lab Mascot