University of Michigan (2021-Present) PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Indian Institute of Science (2016-2021) BS + MS (Research)
Teaching
EEB 429
Introduction to Statistical Model Building in R (Graduate); GSI, University of Michigan; Winter 2024
EEB 485
Population and Community Ecology (Graduate); GSI, University of Michigan; Fall 2022 & Fall 2023
CMPLXSYS 391
Modeling Political Processes (Undergraduate); GSI, University of Michigan; Winter 2022
BIO 173
Introduction to Biology Lab (Undergraduate); GSI, University of Michigan; Fall 2021
Publications & Conferences
A detailed description of my research projects is available at kumawatb.com/research
Publications
2023
Kumawat, B., Lalejini, A., Acosta, M., & Zaman, L. (2023). Fluctuating environments promote evolvability by shaping adaptive variation accessible to populations. bioRxiv, 2023-01. https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.01.04.520634
2021
Kumawat, B. and Zaman, L., 2021, July. Architecture of the Genotype-Phenotype Map and the Coevolution of Complexity. In ALIFE 2021: The 2021 Conference on Artificial Life. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00386
2021
Kumawat, B., Bhat, R. An interplay of resource availability, population size and mutation rate potentiates the evolution of metabolic signaling. BMC Ecol Evo21, 52 (2021). doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01782-0
Book chapters
2019
D’Costa, J., Pujar, A., Kumawat, B., Venkatesh, P., Ranjith, G., Sinha, V., Dubey, A.K., Narayan, H. Resistance: Tales from a Post-Antibiotic World. IISc Press, 2019. ISBN-10:8192570789.
Conferences
2023
EMBO Workshop: Predicting evolution, Heidelberg. Flash Talk and Poster: "Localization on phenotypic boundaries enhances population evolvability"
2023
GRC/S Molecular Mechanisms in Evolution, Easton. Poster: "Localization on phenotypic boundaries enhances population evolvability"
2023
EMBL Symposium: The organism and its environment, Heidelberg. Talk: "Selective capture at phenotypic boundaries enhances population evolvability in a changing environment"
2022
Complex Systems Advanced Academic Workshop at Center for the Study of Complex
Systems, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Presented the work on evolution of
evolvability at a seminar.
2021
Alife 2021, Prague (switched to online mode due to COVID-19) organised by the International Society for Artificial Life. Presented work on the paper "Architecture of the Genotype-Phenotype Map and the Coevolution of Complexity"
2020
ALife 2020, Montreal (switched to online mode due to COVID-19) organised by the International Society for Artificial Life. Received scholarship to attend the meeting as a new member to the community.
2019
Indo-Swiss Meeting on Evolutionary Biology, CHG, Bangalore. Poster on “Relatively disparate evolutionary dynamics of genomic and developmental features in unicellular and multicellular contexts”
2019
Indo-Swiss Meeting on Evolutionary Biology, CHG, Bangalore (Jointly with Preetham Venkatesh). Poster on “Utility functions with compounding returns lead to evolution of cooperativity in Multi-Armed Bandit networks”
2019
Indian Society of Evolutionary Biologists (ISEB) Annual Conference, JNCASR, Bangalore. Poster on “Investigating the evolution of developmental mechanisms in digital multicellular organisms”
2019
PhageShift talk at the Center For BioSystems Science And Engineering symposium, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
2018
PhageShift talk (and poster) at the International Genetic Engineering Machine Competition (iGEM) Giant Jamboree, Boston, MA. Winner of a Gold Medal and Best Software Tool Nomination.
Awards & Honors
Academic
2019
Best Poster Award, iSEB 2019 annual conference, JNCASR, Bangalore
2018
Gold Medal and Best Software Tool Nomination (Team Leader), iGEM 2018, Boston, MA
2017
Gold Medal and Best Hardware Nomination, iGEM 2017, Boston, MA
Fellowships/Funding
2023
Rackham Research Grant
Research Grant by the Rackham Graduate School at University of Michigan to expand the evolvability project to the wet lab.
2022-23
EEB Block Grant
Research Grant by Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan
2017
iBEC Grant
Indian Biological Engineering Competition. Awarded ∼14,000$ by the Department of
Biotechnology, Govt. of India for iGEM 2017.
2014
KVPY Fellowship
National level competitive scholarship with stipend upto pre-PhD level by DST, Govt. of India (<1% selection rate)
2012
NTSE Scholarship
National level competitive scholarship by NCERT, Govt. of India (<0.1% selection rate)
Service & Outreach
2022
Feria de Ciencias Volunteer, Ann Arbor High School. SACNAS @ University of Michigan
2018
Public engagement presentations in local high schools to discuss antimicrobial resistance, Bangalore, India (as a part of iGEM 2018)
2018
Undergraduate Synthetic Biology Workshop as iGEM 2018 Team Leader, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Coursework
Graduate Level
Biology
Molecular Basis of Ageing and Regeneration, Elements of Structural Biology, Molecular Systems Biology, Principles of Genetic Engineering, Bioinformatics, Spatial and Stochastic Dynamics in Biology, Quantitative Ecology
Physics
Condensed Matter Physics - I, Statistical Mechanics, Computational Physics, Information Theory, Theory of Social and Technological Networks
Other
Game Theory, Numerical Solutions of Differential Equations, Dynamical Systems Theory