Education & Professional History
Michigan State University, PhD; PhD
I graduated from Carleton College in 2012 with a major in Computer Science. I then received my PhD from Michigan State University in 2017 with a double degree in Computer Science & Engineering and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology & Behavior. I taught Computer Science at Grinnell College from 2017-2020 and returned to Carleton in the fall of 2020.
At Carleton since 2020.
Highlights & Recent Activity
Endosymbiotic mutualism can constrain host diversity and evolved complexity by Delaney Kelley, Owen Hillary, Elias Hillman-Emelianoff, Ahmad Khalili, Ruoyu Zhang, Kiara M Johnson, Emily Dolson, Anya E Vostinar, Alexander Lalejini
Saved by the Symbiont: Environmental Stress Intensity and Endosymbiont-Mediated Stress Response Determine Evolved Host Complexity by Kiara M. JohnsonCamila MendozaDaya TuckerAlexander LalejiniAnya E. VostinarEmily Dolson
Collaborative Research: FET: Small: RUI: Leveraging symbiotic co-evolution for improved problem solving PI: Anya E. Vostinar, CoPIs: Emily Dolson and Alexander Lalejini
Keep your frenemies closer: bacteriophage that benefit their hosts evolve to be more temperate by A Cameron, S Dorchen, S Doore, AE Vostinar
Endosymbiosis or bust: Influence of ectosymbiosis on evolution of obligate endosymbiosis by K Johnson, P Welch, E Dolson, AE Vostinar
Dirty Transmission Hypothesis: Increased Mutations During Horizontal Transmission Can Select for Increased Levels of Mutualism in Endosymbionts by C Schregardus, M Wiser, AE Vostinar
Symbiosis in Digital Evolution: Past, Present, and Future by Anya E. Vostinar and Katherine G. Skocela, Alexander Lalejini, and Luis Zaman. Front. Ecol. Evol., 05 November 2021.
Spatial Structure Can Decrease Symbiotic Cooperation by Anya E. Vostinar and Charles Ofria, Artificial Life 2019 24:4, 229-249 *Won ISAL Outstanding Student Paper Award*
Organizations & Scholarly Affiliations
International Society for Artificial Life
Society for the Study of Evolution
Association for Computing Machinery
Current Courses
-
Fall 2026
CS 361*: Artificial Life and Digital Evolution (*=Junior Seminar)
-
CS 394: Directed Research in Computer Science
-
Winter 2027
CS 111: Introduction to Computer Science
-
CS 257: Software Design
-
CS 394: Directed Research in Computer Science
-
Spring 2027
CS 201: Data Structures
-
CS 208: Introduction to Computer Systems
-
CS 394: Directed Research in Computer Science
