The Benowitz-Fredericks Research Lab
Avian endocrinology at Bucknell University
Darlin Amaya (’28) and Travis Stanitis (’26) presented posters at the Bucknell Kalman Research Symposium in April 2026, discussing their research projects with peers, professors, alumni, donors and trustees. (Kate Contiliano and Justley Sharp also prepared a poster, but illness and a track meet prevented them from presenting it person!)
The latest lab paper, published in Hormones and Behavior and featuring four Bucknell alums (Sierra Pete (MS ’23), Stephanie Walsh (’24) and Alexis Will (’08)) was featured in this Bucknell news article.
Apparently, it may also have inspired the premise for a potential cli-fi remake of Hitcock’s “The Birds”?
https://www.bucknell.edu/news/seabirds-sentinels-bucknell-researchers-make-national-geographic
This Bucknell news story is a preface to the August issue of National Geographic, which will feature a story about Middleton Island’s seabird research. The wildly talented and fun Mo Heim, extraordinary person and wildlife photographer, spent a few weeks out there with us in summer 2022, and her incredible photos earned Middleton a Nat Geo story. One of the themes of the story is the role of Middleton as a training ground for young scientists, and our very own lab alum Sierra Pete (MS ’23) is featured in a gorgeous 2-page photo spread, and provided the closing quotation for the story. The headline above makes me giggle because while I AM mentioned by name and affiliation in the article, the quotation is about the (challenges of) field camp hygiene, rather than featuring any profound scientific insights! But I am thrilled to see the island, birds, and the people who study them spark more widespread interest in others. It’s an amazing place/ecosystem/community and I’m so lucky to be able to work there.
Back: Maria Pisciotta, Travis Stanitis and Mia Ruck. Front: Justley Sharp, (Piper), Tyler McMasters, (Huck) and Riley Cahill.
We had a lovely morning for our Spring semester brunch to celebrate our two seniors, Maria Pisciotta (Animal Behavior) and Mia Ruck (Animal Behavior). It was also the first lab event for our newest member, Riley Cahill (Biology, ’27). Everyone got a little dog therapy with Piper and the newest lab dog, Huck.
Maria Pisciotta also gave a successful defense of her honors thesis, based on work she conducted last summer on Middleton with the kittiwakes. She compared environmental, physiological and behavioral contributors to siblicide in kittiwake chicks after engaging in months of field work in Alaska, coding MANY hours of video footage, and teaching herself a whole lotta R. She gave a fantastic talk and impressed her committee in the follow-up conversation. Congrats, Maria!
Stephanie Walsh (BA Biology/Psychology, ’24) gave an outstanding thesis defense in April, crafting a talk rich in visuals, accessible to the many non-scientist friends and family who attended, and impressive/interesting to the many scientists in the audience. Her analysis of parental responsiveness to chick behaviors (including the ethogram of parental behaviors that she created), and the finding that it seems to vary by both parent and chick sex, reflects hundreds of hours of work by Steph, and will serve as a foundation for future work in the lab. Sending her off to a MS program in Psychology at NYU. You will be missed, Steph!