Dongmin (Dennis) Kim

Bio

I am a postdoctoral associate jointly appointed at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (UMN) and Harvard University. Previously, I completed my PhD in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) at the University of Minnesota, co-advised by Allison Shaw and John Fieberg. At UMN, I developed and applied mathematical and statistical models to identify hidden factors that drive animal movement, such as memory and diseases. While completing my PhD at UMN, I explored quantitative approaches to detect memory effects and disease progression from animal movement data such as Step Selection Functions (SSFs) and hidden Markov models (HMMs). Prior to starting my PhD, I completed a BA in Statistics at the University of Minnesota, Morris.

My research interests are pretty broad, but generally involve the application of statistical and mathematical models to problems in movement ecology and conservation science. In my role at the University of Minnesota and Harvard University, I focus on identifying mechanisms that shape partial migration in terrestrial animals. Throughout my career, I have worked with a dynamic group of researchers around the world, such as the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior. Collaboration is one of my favorite parts about being a researcher, so if you're interested in working together, please get in touch!

Updates

[May. 2025] the biases in movement ecology paper was accepted by Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
[Feb. 2025] the Many-Analysts paper is out in BMC Biology.
[Dec. 2024] the Many-Analysts paper was accepted by BMC Biology.
[Nov. 2024] the memory paper is out in Movement Ecology.
[Oct. 2024] the North American bird migration paper is out in Avian Conservation and Ecology.
[Oct. 2024] the paper about how to incorporate familiarity covariates into step selection analysis was accepted by Movement Ecology.
[Sep. 2024] the North American bird migration paper was accepted by Avian Conservation and Ecology.
[Aug. 2024] successfully defended my doctoral dissertation: Exploring the Hidden Drivers of Animal Movement: Traits, Disease, and Memory!
[Aug. 2024] new preprint about identifying biases within scientific communities in movement ecology is out.
[July. 2024] new Shaw lab paper about theory personas (a guide on how to frame theoretical research questions) was accepted in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.
[April. 2024] starting a dryland project with the Max-Planck Institute of Animal Behavior to understand the effects of dryland on vultures' space use!
[April. 2024] new Fieberg lab paper on modeling individual variability using step selection analysis is out in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.
[Oct. 2023] new preprint about how results vary when many different researchers analyze the same data is out.
[Aug. 2023] new preprint about how to incorporate familiarity covariates into step selection analysis is out.
[April. 2023] was awarded the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship for 2023-2024!
[July. 2022] received the National Science Foundation (NSF) - INTERN Award to work with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Conservation Ecology Center (CEC) for 2022-2023!
[May. 2022] received the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship (SIFP) to work with the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center for summer 2022!

Publications

Most recent publications on Google Scholar.
^‡ indicates equal contribution.

Selected
In press
In review
In preparation
All

Modelling individual variability in habitat selection and movement using integrated step‐selection analysis PDF

Nilanjan Chatterjee, David Wolfson, Dongmin Kim, Juliana Velez, Smith Freeman, Nathan M Bacheler, Kyle Shertzer, J Christopher Taylor, John Fieberg

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Identifying signals of memory from observations of animal movements PDF

Dongmin Kim, Peter Thompson, David Wolfson, Jerod Merkle, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues Oliveira-Santos, James Forester, Tal Avgar, Mark Lewis, John Fieberg

Movement Ecology

Six personas to adopt when framing theoretical research questions in biology PDF

Allison Shaw, Ave T Bisesi, Chris Wojan, Dongmin Kim, Martha Torstenson, Naven Narayanan, Peter Lutz, Ruby Ales, Cynthia Shao

Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology PDF

Gould E, Fraser HS, Parker TH, Shinichi N, Griffith SC, Vesk PA, Fidler F,... Kim D, ..., Zimmerman GM, Zitomer RA

BMC Biology

Migration and tolerance shape host behaviour and response to parasite infection PDF

Dongmin Kim, Allison K Shaw

Journal of Animal Ecology

Conservation of North American migratory birds: insights from developments in tracking technologies PDF

Martha Torstenson, David Wolfson, Samuel Safran, Desiree Walton, Andrew Hallberg, Dongmin Kim, Yi Fan Tan, Gunnar Kramer, David Andersen

Avian Conservation and Ecology

Modelling individual variability in habitat selection and movement using integrated step‐selection analysis PDF

Nilanjan Chatterjee, David Wolfson, Dongmin Kim, Juliana Velez, Smith Freeman, Nathan M Bacheler, Kyle Shertzer, J Christopher Taylor, John Fieberg

Methods in Ecology and Evolution

Identifying signals of memory from observations of animal movements PDF

Dongmin Kim, Peter Thompson, David Wolfson, Jerod Merkle, Luiz Gustavo Rodrigues Oliveira-Santos, James Forester, Tal Avgar, Mark Lewis, John Fieberg

Movement Ecology

Six personas to adopt when framing theoretical research questions in biology PDF

Allison Shaw, Ave T Bisesi, Chris Wojan, Dongmin Kim, Martha Torstenson, Naven Narayanan, Peter Lutz, Ruby Ales, Cynthia Shao

Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Same data, different analysts: variation in effect sizes due to analytical decisions in ecology and evolutionary biology PDF

Gould E, Fraser HS, Parker TH, Shinichi N, Griffith SC, Vesk PA, Fidler F,... Kim D, ..., Zimmerman GM, Zitomer RA

BMC Biology

Migration and tolerance shape host behaviour and response to parasite infection PDF

Dongmin Kim, Allison K Shaw

Journal of Animal Ecology

Conservation of North American migratory birds: insights from developments in tracking technologies PDF

Martha Torstenson, David Wolfson, Samuel Safran, Desiree Walton, Andrew Hallberg, Dongmin Kim, Yi Fan Tan, Gunnar Kramer, David Andersen

Avian Conservation and Ecology

Detecting disease progression from animal movement using hidden Markov models

Dongmin Kim, Théo Michelot, Katherine Mertes, Jared Stabach, John Fieberg

Synthesis of methods to analyze responses to linear features using telemetry data

Nilanjan Chatterjee, David Wolfson, Dongmin Kim, Smith Freeman, Allicia Kelly, James Hodson, John Fieberg

Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology PDF

Shaw AK, Fouda L, Mezzini S, Kim D, Chatterjee N, Wolfson D,Abrahms B, Attias N, Beardsworth CE, Beltran R, Binning SA, Blincow KM, Chan Y-C, Fronhofer EA, Hegemann A, Hurme ER, Iannarilli F, Kellner JB, McCoy KD, Rafiq K, Saastamoinen M, Sequeira AMM, Serota MW, Sumasgutner P, Tao Y, Torstenson M, Yanco SW, Beck KB, Bertram MG, Beumer LT, Bradarić M, Clermont J, Ellis-Soto D, Faltusová M, Fieberg J, Hall RJ, Kölzsch A, Lai S, Lee-Cruz L, Loretto M-C, Loveridge A, Michelangeli M, Mueller T, Riotte-Lambert L, Sapir N, Scacco M, Teitelbaum CS, Cagnacci F.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B

Variation in activity patterns of Japanese serow (Capricornis crispus) across different temporal scales

Kushaal Selvarajah, Seung-Yun Baek, Hayato Takada, Dongmin Kim, Yusaku Yamada, Shinsuke Koike

Partial migration across space and time: bridging hypotheses and mechanisms

Dongmin Kim, Teresa Pegan, David Wolfson, Ellen Aikens, Paul Moorcroft, Jesús Pinto-Ledezma