Rate My Professor Dustin Rubenstein

Dustin Rubenstein, a prominent Biology professor at Columbia University, holds the Thomas Hunt Morgan Professorship in Conservation Biology within the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology. He obtained his A.B. from Dartmouth College in 1999 as a Reynolds Scholar and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2006 as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow in the Biological Sciences. Rubenstein conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley from 2006 to 2009 as a Miller Research Fellow. Upon joining Columbia University in 2009, he assumed various leadership roles, including Chair of the University Seminar in the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior. He maintains affiliate appointments at the American Museum of Natural History, the National Museums of Kenya, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and the Mpala Research Centre. Additionally, he is an Affiliate Member of the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, the Data Science Institute, and a Faculty Mentor in the Doctoral Program in Neurobiology and Behavior.

Rubenstein's research program takes an integrative approach grounded in mathematical theory to explore how social and ecological environments shape behavior via molecular, neural, neuroendocrine, physiological, and genomic mechanisms. Focusing on the evolution of cooperation, complex societies, parental care, and mate choice, he studies terrestrial vertebrates and invertebrates (birds, reptiles, mammals, insects) across all continents except Antarctica, as well as aquatic organisms like crustaceans, amphibians, and fishes. His work addresses adaptive responses to environmental change, including climate variability. With nearly 150 publications, Rubenstein authored the textbook Animal Behavior, 12th Edition (Oxford University Press, 2022), and co-edited Comparative Social Evolution. Highly cited papers include "From birds to butterflies: animal movement patterns and stable isotopes" (Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2004), "The ecology of stress: effects of the social environment" (Functional Ecology, 2012), and "Evolutionary tipping points in the capacity to adapt to environmental change" (PNAS, 2015). He serves as Specialty Chief Editor for the Evolutionary Ecology of Social Behavior section of Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, and Associate Editor for Science Advances and Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Among his honors are Fellowships from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Ornithological Society, National Academy of Sciences Kavli and Education Fellowships, Columbia's Lenfest Distinguished Faculty Award, Provost’s Senior Faculty Teaching Scholar, and Great Teacher Award. Rubenstein led the development of the Program in Tropical Biology and Sustainability—a semester abroad in Africa—and the sTEAM Fellows Program for underrepresented undergraduates in STEM.