Lab Members

Dr. Benjamin M. Van Doren

Principal Investigator • Assistant Professor
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Benjamin is interested in all things related to animal migration. He is fascinated by how migratory birds respond to environmental change and how human-dominated landscapes are influencing migrants’ ecology and behavior. He is excited by computational tools that push ecology forward while facilitating opportunities for conservation action. Benjamin earned a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University and a PhD from Oxford University, and he has received achievement awards from the American Ornithological Society, Linnean Society of London, and Zoological Society of London. In his free time, he enjoys exploring forested landscapes, reading fantasy novels, baking bread, eating bread, playing piano, and spending time with good friends. His first sentence was “Hello, duck.”

Dr. Zach G. Gayk

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Zach conducted his doctoral studies at the University of Windsor, Ontario, focusing on the flight-calling behavior and in-flight ecology of migratory songbirds in the Great Lakes region. Zach's doctoral studies were supported by a Trillium Scholarship from the Government of Ontario. Growing up in the rural Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan, Zach became fascinated by the amazing spectacle of songbird migration as a young birder, and has been a passionate naturalist ever since. Zach’s primary research interests are in the acoustic monitoring of songbird migration, specifically in using microphone arrays to investigate poorly understood aspects of the in-flight ecology of migratory songbirds, and in using songbird flight calls to develop migration-monitoring networks of acoustic recorders throughout the Americas. Zach is passionate about advancing acoustic monitoring of songbird migration at large geographic scales, which could be valuable for informing species-specific estimates of migratory passage, understanding fine-scale patterns in the phenology of species’ movement, and understanding climate-mediated shifts in migration. Zach is also interested in the evolutionary ecology of migratory birds more broadly, and in particular the evolution of migratory strategies. For fun, Zach loves hiking to beautiful natural areas, as well as canoeing, kayaking, and plein air painting.

Yangkang Chen

PhD Student
Program in Ecology, Evolution & Conservation Biology

Yangkang is passionate about understanding the ecology and evolution of bird migration through data science approaches. By integrating diverse data sources and employing advanced statistical methods, Yangkang aims to unravel the factors that shape large-scale bird migration patterns and assess the potential impacts of global change on these dynamics. During his master’s study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yangkang focused on phenological sensitivity and mismatches in the context of climate change by modeling global bird migration using citizen science and remote sensing data. Prior to this, Yangkang obtained a master’s degree in data science from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in ecology from Sichuan University, China.

Beyond research, Yangkang enjoys hiking, reading, live band performances, coffee and coding.

Shu-Yueh (Winnie) Liao

Master’s Student
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences

Winnie is dedicated to bird migration and conservation using evidence-based and innovative methods. She is particularly interested in applying diverse tools such as citizen science data, weather surveillance radars, satellite tracking, and acoustic recordings to gain a comprehensive understanding of bird biology in the context of human disturbances.

Winnie holds a Bachelor of Science from a dual degree program at Duke Kunshan University and Duke University. During her studies, she helped launch the first nationwide survey of bird-building collisions in China and completed an undergraduate thesis on the effects of artificial plantations on bird diversity in western China. She also served as a full-time research fellow on shorebird migration, participating in fieldwork across the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Outside of research, Winnie enjoys playing volleyball as a setter, indoor climbing, birdwatching, and reading novels.

Shubhankar Unhale

Master’s Student
Department of Computer Science

Shubhankar enjoys building systems for machine learning applications and is always exploring ways to make them more scalable and efficient. His research has focused on image analysis using deep learning, with a particular interest in developing automated deployment and data processing pipelines for machine learning systems. He also investigates novel cloud infrastructure techniques to optimize these workflows.

Previously, he worked at PTC as a Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET), where he focused on enhancing DevOps infrastructure and improving system reliability. He contributed to the development of CI/CD pipeline integrations and participated in various product development initiatives.

When he's not working, Shubhankar enjoys experimenting with new coffee brewing methods and playing guitar.

Dhruv Tomar

Undergraduate Student

Dhruv is interested in the various applications of computer science to the field of biology. Growing up, Dhruv found himself captivated by the natural world, especially by birds, and so he aims to discover how various computational tools such as machine learning and data analysis can shed new light into various topics such as bird migration biology. Dhruv hopes to continue on to graduate school to further his knowledge of computational biology. He spends his free time playing the viola and guitar, hiking, and learning random trivia.