Our research seeks to understand how social processes influence communication. We test the roles of social groups on vocal signaling in chickadees and titmice (Paridae), taking developmental, mechanistic, and functional approaches.

Recent and ongoing projects in the lab include:

• testing the roles of group size and complexity of social interactions on vocal signaling
• tests of individuals’ responses to predator behavior and facial / body orientation
• determining the functions of variation in the chick-a-dee call of chickadees and titmice
• uncovering the relationships among social context, personality, and communication in chickadees and titmice
• testing the roles of mixed-species flock size and composition on communication and decision-making in chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches

+ + + + + + + +

Link to Scott Benson’s 2024 talk at the Animal Behavior Conference at CISAB in Bloomington, IN! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/yykdjdf5mvd8orrmuc1i0/BensonWithQA.mp4?rlkey=hysxdjn0188e1tcia1e4oazs6&dl=0

+ + + + + + + +

CCL STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION

Our lab works to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in our laboratory and field work, in our fields of study, in our classrooms, in our department, and in our university as a whole. Increased diversity, equity, and inclusion is needed to fight against institutions of systemic oppression. We commit to deepening our understanding of how our community has been shaped by systemic racism, sexism, and other structures of oppression. We hope to help eliminate those damaging and unjust structures. To that end, members of our lab:

• hold discussions in our weekly lab meetings once a month centered around articles on diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM and in academia
• have led “STEM Saturdays” exercises and discussions with K-5 students through Knoxville’s Youth Outreach in STEM [yostem.org]
• regularly attend university and professional organization workshops and webinars on diversity and inclusion and on allyship
• serve on departmental and College diversity committees

We believe diversity in groups makes everyone stronger, but only if every voice is valued. We are committed to creating a lab environment in which all individuals feel welcomed, supported, respected, and invested in our research program and our academic work. We have an obligation to one another and to our community to support and amplify voices that have been historically marginalized in our field, and to foster learning and working environments that are personally and professionally fulfilling. This lab’s goal is to break down the walls among us so that we can create an equitable, just, and supportive place for us to conduct and communicate our science.