CV
Stephanie Y. Chia
sychia@umd.edu Location College Park, Maryland, USA Research interests Ecoinformatics, Macroecology, Macroevolution, Sustainability
Education
2021– Ph.D. Candidate in Ecology & Evolution
University of Maryland, College Park (UMD), USA
Advisor: Bill Fagan
2015–2017 M.S. Sustainable Business and Innovation
Utrecht University, Netherlands
Advisor: Agni Kalfagianni
2010–2015 B.S. Life Science
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
exchange student at the University of British Columbia, Canada (2013)
Employment history
2019–2021 Research Assistant
Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
Advisor: Mao-Ning Tuanmu (Ecoacoustics and Spatial Ecology Lab)
2017–2019 Assistant Engineer
SGS Ltd., Taiwan
Climate Change Adaptation Team
Publications
Peer-reviewed journals
Fagan WF, Krishnan AG, Fleming CH, Sharkey E, Chia SY, Swain A, …150+ authors. (in press). Wild canids and felids differ in memory-related use of travel routes. PNAS.
Chia SY, Wu S, Lu Y-J, Jang Y-S, Huang C-C, Shen S-F, Chen I-C, Tuanmu M-N. (2024). Mechanistic understanding of how temperature and its variability shape body size composition in moth communities. Functional Ecology.
Chia SY, Fang Y-T, Su Y-T, Tsai P-Y, Hsieh C, Tsao S-H, Juang J-Y, Hung C-M, Tuanmu M-N. (2023). A global dataset of bird nest traits. Scientific Data.
Tsai P-Y, Ko C-J, Chia SY, Lu Y-J, Tuanmu M-N. (2021). New insights into the patterns and drivers of avian altitudinal migration from a growing crowdsourcing data source. Ecography.
Upcoming
Chia SY, Swain A, Josephs N, Lin L, Fagan WF. Birds that don’t exist: niche pre-emption as a constraint on morphological evolution in the Passeroidea. submitted.
Chia SY, Tsai-Chen Y, Tuanmu M-N, Fagan WF. Evolution of enclosed nests in birds driven by predation and climate challenges. in review.
Presentations
Talks
2025 Ecological Society of America, Baltimore, MD, USA. 2024 Mathematical Biology Seminar, Department of Mathematics, UMD. 2023 American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America and Soil Science Society of America, St. Louis, MO, USA. 2023 American Ornithological Society and Society of Canadian Ornithologists, London, ON, Canada. 2022 Belmont Forum Climate Environment and Health Early Career Researcher Workshop, virtual. 2021 Congress of Animal Behavior and Ecology, Taiwan, virtual.
Posters
2024 American Ornithological Society, Estes Park, CO, USA. 2021 Ecological Society of America, virtual. 2020 British Ecological Society, virtual.
Honors and awards
Awards and Fellowships
2024 Best Graduate Research Talk, UMD Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics Program ($250) 2024–2026 Study Abroad Scholarship, Taiwan Ministry of Education ($32,000) 2024 Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Fellowship ($3,750) 2023 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, UMD ($331) 2022 Global STEWARDS Fellowship at UMD, National Science Foundation (fully funded one-year traineeship and research trip to Nepal) 2021–2022 Dean’s Fellowship, UMD ($5,000)
Travel grants
2024 Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Award, UMD ($400) 2024 Biology Department Travel Award, UMD ($750) 2024 Biological Sciences Graduate Program Travel Award, UMD ($500) 2023 Jacob K. Goldhaber Travel Award, UMD ($600) 2023 Global STEWARDS Travel Grant, UMD ($1,500) 2023 International Conference Student Support Award, UMD ($500) 2023 American Ornithological Society Travel Award ($561) 2021 Ecological Society of America Registration Grant
Teaching
University of Maryland
Teaching assistant (Fall 2025), HNUH258C Nature at Risk: Extinction, Consequences, and Strategies
Guest lecturer (Spring 2025), BSCI462/BIOL708R Population Ecology
Teaching assistant (Spring 2024), BSCI462/BIOL708R Population Ecology
Teaching assistant (Sping & Fall 2022, Spring & Fall 2023), BSCI201 Human Anatomy and Physiology
Service , outreach, non-academic projects
2025 Roadkill risk mapping for highways in Taiwan
Waitlisted for finalists in the Taiwan Highway Bureau Data Application Competition [workflow demo]
2022-2025 Graduate student committees, BEES Program, University of Maryland
Organized program events including social gatherings, overnight retreats, peer mentoring, and student award selections
2022 Seminar Committee, Global STEWARDS Program, University of Maryland
Coordinated weekly seminar series, inviting and introducing external speakers
2019-2020 Public educational materials, Academia Sinica
Developed interactive modules for open house events.
2018 Social housing resource integration platform proposal, Taiwan
Winning team in a policy proposal competition held by the Ministry of Education
2017 Food waste reduction with monitoring tools and data analysis, Netherlands
Collaborated with Wastewatchers to predict food consumption patterns and identify barriers to reducing food waste in the hospitality industry, developed it into Master's thesis project
2016 PLA cups recycling initiative, Netherlands
Collaborated with Bio Futura, conducted economic viability study and contributed to a pilot project recycling 500,000 PLA (polylactic acid) cups
2015 Nuclear waste management legislation, Taiwan
Assisted researchers in drafting a nuclear waste management bill, lobbied in the Legislative Yuan, and supported its successful passage through the first reading
2014 Climate-adaptive strategies with organic tea farmers, Taiwan
Collaborated with tea farmers to predict harvest timing with local microclimate station and to investigate the possibility of using selective weed cultivation to reduce weeding labor
Society membership
Ecological Society of America
American Ornithological Society
Sigma Xi
Skills
Programming languages and software
RPythonC#QGISMarkdownGitHTML & CSSGurobi
Ecological and computational skills
High-performance computing (HPC)Topological data analysisLinear programmingPhylogenetic comparative methodsAncestral state reconstructionSpatial data analysisBiodiversity measurementGPS animal movement data analysis
Languages
Mandarin ChineseEnglish
Other skills and credentials
WMA Wilderness First ResponderPADI Advanced Open Water DiverNCMW Adult Mental Health First Aid certificationPhotography