Shloka V. Janapaty sj9547 [at] princeton [dot] edu

Hello! I’m a PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton advised by Lars Hedin and Simon Levin. I’m also a recent graduate of Columbia University, where I studied Applied Mathematics. My research is supported by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Robert May Fellowship at Princeton.

The kind of ecological theory I enjoy most is:

  • low-dimensional: what is the simplest description of this problem that explains the most variance?
  • cross-disciplinary: where different fields interface and new applications arise
  • meaningful: provides fundamental insight into animal welfare, vulnerable biogeochemical stocks, and other neglected problems

I am particularly interested in using tools from mathematics and computer science to examine:

  1. resource acquisition strategies in plant community assembly, especially in nutrient poor soils
  2. resource allocation strategies in wild animals, especially phenotypic plasticity in life-history strategies on short evolutionary time scales.

Previously, I worked with Erwan Monier (UC Davis) on carbon and nitrogen cycling in biocrusts. I was also at the Santa Fe Institute developing a model of resource competition in biocrusts with Mingzhen Lu and Chris Kempes.

Home

Publications

Janapaty, S. V. (2023). A Chip-Firing Game for Biocrust Reverse Succession. arXiv :2305.05193.

Basaria, S., Ginieczki, T. S., Janapaty, S. V., Nigam, R., & Smith, D. H. (2023). Maximizing Learning Objectives in Undergraduate Research Journals. Journal of College Science Teaching,  52(5), 3-5.

Janapaty, S. (2023). Methods for degrading low density polyethylene (LDPE) and remediating leachate. U.S. Patent No. 11,583,904. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Miscellaneous Writing

Here are a few things I've written. I primarily write for myself but produce my best work in anticipation of viewership.

My Anki Guide

An Hour Watching Cows

Digital Shelves

To Read

Fiction
  • The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  • A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck
  • The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki
  • Of Love and Other Demons by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Science, History, and Philosophy
  • A Foray Into the Worlds of Animals and Humans: With a Theory of Meaning by Jakob Johann von Uexkull
  • Paradoxical Life: Meaning, Matter, and the Power of Human Choice by Andreas Wagner
  • The Search For Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence
  • The Fall of Heaven by Andrew Scott Cooper
  • The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
  • Judgement in Tokyo by Gary J. Bass
  • Silks Roads by Peter Frankopan
  • The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
  • Spatial Models for Species-Area Curves by Rick Durrett and Simon Levin
  • Quining Qualia by Dan Dennett
  • Mutualisms and ecosystem-level processes by Nancy Collins Johnson
  • A First Look at First-Passage Processes by Sidney Redner
  • The Energetics of Computing in Life and Machines by David Wolpert
  • From Darwin to Derrida by David Haig
  • Suffering-Focused Ethics: Defense and Implications by Magnus Vinding
  • Minimalist Axiologies: Alternatives to ‘Good Minus Bad’ Views of Value by Teo Ajantaival
  • Time: A Very Short Introduction by Jenann Ismael
  • Better Never to Have Been by David Benatar
  • Animal Behavior: An Evolutionary Approach by John Alcock
  • An Introduction to Decision Theory by Martin Peterson
  • A First Course in Probability by Sheldon Ross
  • Trophic Ecology by James E. Garvey

Past

2025
2024
2023