I am a theoretical biogeographer. Broadly, my research explores the role of dispersal in shaping ecological and evolutionary patterns across scales. Currently, my work is aimed at understanding the role of human movement patterns in determining the spread of invasive species across the globe by bridging ideas of niche concepts from community ecology and spread processes in network science. In my research, I use a combination of mathematical methods (such as stochastic processes, linear algebra, fourier transformations, and partial/ordinary differential equations, etc.) and empirical datasets on human-mobility networks to address fundamental questions in invasion biogeography like what is the spatiotemporal trajectory of species spreading on complex human mobility network? Why are invasion rates so variable? And how can we stymie human-mediated biological invasions?

Before UT, I was a master's student at Yale in Dept. of EEB, where I researched how dispersal and fire-vegetation-climate feedbacks, together, determine the distribution pattern and resilience of the continental-scale boundary between savanna and forest biomes. I did my undergrad in Physics and Environmental Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science. 

Website: http://www.nikunjgoel.com/