Corina Tarnita

Corina Tarnita
Alma mater	Harvard University (BA, MA, PhD)
Awards	Harvard Society of Fellows Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship ESA Early Career Fellow Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences Guggenheim Fellowship
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematical biology, Complex systems science, Self-organization
Institutions	Princeton University
Thesis	Evolutionary Dynamics in Structured Populations  (2009)
Doctoral advisor	Martin Nowak
Website	https://ctarnita.scholar.princeton.edu/

Corina Tarnita is a Romanian-born American-French ^[1] mathematician and theoretical biologist known for her work in mathematical biology and complex adaptive systems. She is currently a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. ^[2] Her research examines how living organisms organize themselves into patterns at different scales. ^[3]

Early life and education

Born in Craiova, Romania, Tarnita showed an early aptitude for mathematics, encouraged by her mother, a professor of materials science and engineering. ^[3] She won the Romanian National Mathematical Olympiad three times from 1999 to 2001. ^[4] Tarnita moved to the United States to pursue higher education, obtaining her B.A. (2006), M.A. (2008), and Ph.D. (2009) in Mathematics from Harvard University. ^[5] She was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows before joining the Princeton University faculty in 2013. ^[5]

Research and career

Initially focused on high-dimensional mathematics, Tarnita was inspired by Martin Nowak's work on evolutionary dynamics and shifted to studying mathematical biology. This change led her to complete her Ph.D. under Nowak's supervision, finishing in just three years. ^[6]

Tarnita's 2010 paper, "The evolution of eusociality," co-authored with Martin A. Nowak and Edward O. Wilson, challenged the long-standing kin selection theory and proposed a new model for the evolution of eusociality, sparking significant debate and reevaluation in the field of evolutionary biology. ^{[7] [8] [9]} The response included a rebuttal published in Nature from over a hundred researchers. ^[10]

Working with Princeton colleagues Robert Pringle and Juan Bonachela, Tarnita developed new theories about the formation of large, regular vegetation patterns, such as fairy circles in the Namib Desert. ^{[11] [12]}

Tarnita's research on "loner" behavior in slime molds revealed that this seemingly non-cooperative trait is actually an evolutionarily stable strategy, challenging previous assumptions about social behavior in microorganisms. ^{[13] [14]}

In 2024, Tarnita was named a Guggenheim Fellow. ^[15]

Selected publications

• Nowak, Martin A.; Tarnita, Corina E.; Wilson, Edward O. (2010). "The evolution of eusociality". Nature. 466 (7310): 1057–1062. doi:10.1038/nature09205. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 20740005.
• Bonachela, J. A.; Pringle, R. M.; Sheffer, E.; Coverdale, T. C.; Guyton, J. A.; Caylor, K. K.; Levin, S. A.; Tarnita, C. E. (2015). "Termite mounds can increase the robustness of dryland ecosystems to climatic change". Science. 347 (6222): 651–655. doi:10.1126/science.1261487. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 25657248.
• Tarnita, C. E.; Bonachela, J. A.; Sheffer, E.; Guyton, J. A.; Coverdale, T. C.; Long, R. A.; Pringle, R. M. (2017). "A theoretical foundation for multi-scale regular vegetation patterns". Nature. 541 (7637): 398–401. doi:10.1038/nature20801. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 28102269.

References

1. "Corina Tarnita: The Ant Mathematician". The Scientist Magazine. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
2. "Corina Tarnita | Ecology & Evolutionary Biology". eeb.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
3. Sokol, Joshua (2017-12-20). "A Mathematician Who Decodes the Patterns Stamped Out by Life". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
4. "Corina Tarnita: The Ant Mathematician". The Scientist Magazine. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
5. "Short Bio | Tarnita Lab @ Princeton". ctarnita.scholar.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
6. "Corina Tarnita: The Ant Mathematician". The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
7. Nowak, Martin A.; Tarnita, Corina E.; Wilson, Edward O. (August 2010). "The evolution of eusociality". Nature. 466 (7310): 1057–1062. Bibcode:2010Natur.466.1057N. doi:10.1038/nature09205. ISSN   1476-4687. PMC   3279739 . PMID   20740005.
8. harvardgazette (2010-08-25). "The ties that bind". Harvard Gazette. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
9. "Eusociality: A Question of Mathematics or Bad Science? | Writing Program". www.bu.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
10. Abbot; et al. (2011). "Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality". Nature. 471 (7339): E1–E4. Bibcode:2011Natur.471E...1A. doi:10.1038/nature09831. PMC   3836173 . PMID   21430721.
11. Page, Thomas (2017-01-31). "Fairy circles: Has one of nature's great mysteries been solved?". CNN. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
12. Tarnita, Corina E.; Bonachela, Juan A.; Sheffer, Efrat; Guyton, Jennifer A.; Coverdale, Tyler C.; Long, Ryan A.; Pringle, Robert M. (January 2017). "A theoretical foundation for multi-scale regular vegetation patterns" . Nature. 541 (7637): 398–401. Bibcode:2017Natur.541..398T. doi:10.1038/nature20801. ISSN   1476-4687. PMID   28102267.
13. Tarnita, Corina E.; Washburne, Alex; Martinez-Garcia, Ricardo; Sgro, Allyson E.; Levin, Simon A. (2015-03-03). "Fitness tradeoffs between spores and nonaggregating cells can explain the coexistence of diverse genotypes in cellular slime molds". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (9): 2776–2781. Bibcode:2015PNAS..112.2776T. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1424242112 . PMC   4352809 . PMID   25605926.
14. University, Princeton. "Evolution selects for 'loners' that hang back from collective behavior—at least in slime molds". phys.org. Retrieved 2025-01-19.
15. "Corina Tarnita – John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation…" . Retrieved 2025-01-19.