People
Our lab tries to bring together researchers with diverse backgrounds in ecology, evolutionary biology, computer science, and statistics to develop innovative approaches to understanding complex biological systems.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Russell Dinnage
Assistant Professor
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Alberta
Canada CIFAR AI Chair, hosted at the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii), where he is also a Fellow.
Dr. Dinnage's research program develops foundation models for organismal biology - artificial intelligence systems that learn from and help us understand living systems at scales from molecules to ecosystems. His work spans across phylogenetic ecology, species distribution modeling, and the application of machine learning to biological problems.
Education:
- Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto (2007-2013)
- B.S. in Ecology (major) and Zoology (minor), University of Toronto (2002-2006)
Previous Positions:
- Research Assistant Professor, Florida International University (2021-present, part-time, completing NSF award #2329701)
- Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Canberra (2019-2021)
- Postdoctoral Researcher, Australian National University (2015-2019)
- Postdoctoral Researcher, CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences (2012-2015)
Contact:
- Email: dinnage@ualberta.ca
- Twitter: @ecologician
- GitHub: rdinnager
- Google Scholar: GU6p2KoAAAAJ
- Website: rdinnager.github.io/dinnage_lab_website/
Current Lab Members
Laura Saunders
MSc student
Laura is investigating pronghorn resource selection and behaviour using animal-borne collar-camera video. Her research focuses on developing machine learning models to classify behavioral patterns and diet composition, offering new insights into ungulate spatial ecology and habitat use. This project is in collaboration with the Alberta Conservation Association. Laura earned her B.Sc. in Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology from the University of Alberta in 2025. She brings a diverse research background, having completed an honours thesis in paleontology alongside several undergraduate projects in invertebrate zoology. Outside of her research, she is an avid nature-lover and enjoys hiking, travelling, learning about cool animals, and spending way too much time watching TV.
Cassidy Schneider
MSc student
Cassidy is developing methods to detect insect damage — herbivory — on fossil leaves. Her supervision is shared: Shinichi Nakagawa and postdoctoral researcher Christine Sosiak supervise the project, and Dr. Dinnage is registered as an additional supervisor, contributing the machine-learning and imaging side of the work.
Hao Qin
MSc student
Hao is co-supervised by Dr. Dinnage and Shinichi Nakagawa.