Jordan Okie

Hi everyone! I’m a PhD student in biology at the University of New Mexico. I’m interested in macroecology, community and ecosystem ecology, human ecology, metabolic theory, biological scaling, and biological stoichiometry. Current projects include developing a model linking stoichiometry to metabolic theory, investigating the spatial scaling of species body size frequency distributions, and examining the environmental factors influencing geographic patterns of cultural and linguistic diversity.

Outside science, I enjoy playing the guitar, sports, hiking, snowboarding, and a good movie or book. I’m really excited to get to know and work with such a diverse group of people and to visit a new place!

1. What topics do you have some expertise in and would you be willing to help others learn them?

I have modest expertise in metabolic ecology, biological scaling theory, and macroecological research. I have a general background in ecology, particularly community and food web ecology. I would happy to help others learn what I know.

2. What do you want to learn at the CSSS?

I look forward to being exposed to a broad range of ideas relevant to complex systems and learn a general theoretical framework to understand such systems. In addition, I hope to develop one or two tools sufficiently in depth that I can confidently use them for my own research.

3. Do you have any projects or research interests that would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach?

Many of my projects would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach. In particular, I believe that much of macroecological research can benefit from interdisciplinary collaborations between physicists, statisticians, computer scientists, ecologists, anthropologists, and economists. For example, my project on the spatial scaling of body-size frequency distributions could benefit from analytical and modeling approaches used by physicists and statisticians.

4. Do you have any ideas for what sort of project you would like to do work on with other CSSS students this summer?

I have several research ideas for projects I think would be fun and productive to work on, in addition to the aforementioned project. These are mostly research questions in systems I’m familiar with or even have data for, but for which I do not have the analytical, programming, or statistical skills to solve on my own. However, I’d also be excited to work on other questions/systems of less familiarity, such as in social or economic systems, biological systems, networks, computer models, etc.

5. Suppose you could travel one-hundred years in the future and ask researchers any three questions. What would those questions be?

1- How would you say the philosophy of science has changed over the last 100 years? 2- What role has science, and the resulting technological and medical advancements, played in working towards a sustainable future, improving human health, and instilling peace throughout the world over the last century? 3- In your opinion, what are the current most exciting or pressing problems and questions facing the scientific community?