If you a prospective grad student or postdoc interested in the Kikuchi lab, please contact me!

In your e-mail to me, please include this information:
- Your CV
- General questions of interest in biology that motivate you
- Why you are interested in our lab. Especially if you are a prospective grad student, this should have some details that evince familiarity with what we do. A good way to increase your chances of a positive reply are to reach out in time to start writing an NSF-GRFP application if you are eligible for that award. A good way to decrease your chances of a positive reply is to use AI in crafting your initial e-mail to me. Nobody expects you to be perfect when you apply to grad school, we PIs want to find people who are genuinely enthusiastic about ideas.
- Project ideas or approaches you're keen on
David Kikuchi is Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University.

e-mail: [email protected]
Alice Welch (BS 2023 OSU, summa cum laude) started in the Kikuchi lab in 2023. Alice is pursuing her PhD on the behavioral ecology of threat recognition in birds. Her interests include avian biology, social learning, and the development of behavior.

e-mail: [email protected]
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Elena Gasiorowski (MS 2024 OSU) began her PhD in the Kikuchi lab in 2024. Elena is fascinated by the colors of snakes (even if they are all brown)! She also studies how birds assess risk using phenotypic cues of potential predators and environmental context.

e-mail: [email protected]
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Russell Campbell (NSF-GRFP fellow) started in the Kikuchi lab in 2024. Russell is studying the evolution of plumage coloration.

e-mail: [email protected]
Noah Skelly (MS 2026 University of Illinois - Chicago) started in the Kikuchi lab in 2026. Noah has broad interests in the relationship between behavior and ecology.
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Kaelyn LaLonde is an honors thesis student studying the distribution of bird territory sizes across the Neotropics.

Alumni

Shelby Lawson is a postdoctoral reseracher at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville interested in the relationship between innate and learned behaviors in birds and frogs. She earned her PhD from the University of Illinois in 2022.
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Eleanor Fraser did her honors thesis on the relationship between group behavior and individual personality in zebra finches.
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Angela Zbaracki wrote her honors thesis on using DeepLabCut, a machine learning package, to analyze aspects of personality in juvenile red-winged blackbirds.
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Grace Lum did an undergradate SURE fellowship (Summer 2025) studying the development of behavior in house sparrows.