Finally, we used a wireless ultrasonic mic to record vocalizations. We observed an amazing diversity of calls which have acoustic features that lay outside of the standard distribution reported in the lab. Also, we see interesting usage of the classically negative affect 22 kHz call during foraging.

It's hard to interpret observations like this because in the field we cannot control environmental factors that might be causing movement. Instead, we built 3D reconstructions of the environment using gaussian splatting with the goal of building causal models that can link environment + behavior.

We noticed periods of coordinated collective movement where some, but not all, animals appeared to participate. We implemented multi-animal tracking and a size-estimation model to show that larger rats move faster and are more likely to participate in collective bursts than smaller animals.

Thermal imaging worked great at our sites. High SNR and able to see through vegetation in parks.

We mined NYC311 reports of rat sightings to pick a time and place to perform the field studies. We settled on 3 recording locations in distinct environments (subway, park, sidewalk): Union Square Station, Central Park (Ramble), and W 125th St.

I’m a Dr now! (And new dad 😊). Thanks to all my mentors, colleagues, friends, and family past and present.