Welcome Jean-Philippe Gibert – New SE
Submitted by editor on 14 January 2025.
We are happy to welcome Dr. Jean-Philippe Gibert from Duke University, NC, USA, to the Oikos Editorial Board. To know more about him, read our interview below!
Website: https://jeanpgibert.weebly.com/
What's your main research focus at the moment?
In the Gibert lab study how phenotypic change ––evolutionary or plastic–– mediate how rapid shifts in environmental conditions might influence the structure and dynamics of food webs, as well as how these responses may in turn affect phenotypic change using a combination of theory and experimental work with microbial food webs.
Can you describe your research career?
I finished my undergraduate studies in Biological Sciences in 2009 at the Universidad de la República in my hometown of Montevideo, Uruguay. From 2009 to 2011 I worked with Paulo Guimarães Jr at the Universidade de São Paulo, in Brazil, then moved to Lincoln, Nebraska (United States) where I did my PhD with John DeLong at the University of Nebraska. In 2015 I was awarded a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellowship in Complex Systems by the McDonnell Foundation, and after defending my PhD in 2016, I took it to the University of California, Merced, where I worked with Justin Yeakel until 2018. That year, I started my current position at Duke University, in North Carolina, we’re I’ve been an Assistant Professor of Biology since.
How come that you became a scientist in ecology?
I always wanted to do Paleontology so I could study dinosaurs. Upon entering college, the diversity of classes and emerging interests in areas other than biology slowly changed my core interests and, ultimately, my career path. I took a few classes as an undergrad that blew me away: a class called ”Biofísica” –described by the instructor as ”cellular and sub-cellular physiology from a mathematical standpoint”–– as well as a general Evolution class and a general Ecology one had the single most impact. Thogether, they radically altered what I wanted to do and how. They made me realize that I was more interested in understanding the natural word from an integrative standpoint that unified ecology, evolution and math. This implied getting formal training in Math, and working with mentors with diverse perspectives and ideas, until I truly understood what and how I wanted to do that. Consequently, my career path can only be understood in retrospect as a series of decisions that took me down a series of paths I found locally interesting, and that eventually led to what would become my research program. Sometimes I look back and wonder where did I go wrong considering that I wanted to study dinosaurs but ended up studying microbial food webs, math and climate change? Then I realize that, while I wouldn’t necessarily had anticipated this end result, that meandering career path is what makes our science unique, for better or worse!
What do you do when you're not working?
Hang out with the fam, go on hikes, play music, read books, enjoy the latest indie videogame, eat well, go kayaking or camping. I spent much of my life playing football (my American colleagues and students would call it soccer, but I know better). So, many, many things!