Levi Yoder Raskin
Tagline:Integrative biology PhD candidate @ UC Berkeley and member of the Huelsenbeck Lab. Interested in phylogenetic methods, fossils, and especially hominins. DOE CSGF fellow.
Berkeley, CA, USA
About Me
I am a PhD Candidate in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, working with Dr. John Huelsenbeck. My research focuses on developing and applying novel phylogenetic approaches to various clades, with a focus on hominins.
Currently, I have three significant areas of research interests, and I am open to collaborations and new directions:
• Integrating 3D geometric morphometrics and Bayesian phylogenetic inference
• Developing and assessing new approaches and models for Bayesian phylogenetic inference
• Developing new methods for understanding and interpreting dental morphological traits and their utility in the fossil record
Education
PhD candidate
from: 2024, until: presentField of study:Integrative BiologySchool:University of California, BerkeleyLocation:Berkeley, CA
DescriptionPhD in Integrative Biology, advised by Dr. John Huelsenbeck
Bachelor in Arts
from: 2020, until: 2024Field of study:Biology and AnthropologySchool:Haverford CollegeLocation:Haverford, PA
DescriptionDouble majored in Biology and Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College via the Haverford College-Bryn Mawr College consortium.
Research Interests
- Phylogenetic inference
- Bayesian phylogenetics
- Character analysis
- Geometric morphometrics
- Paleoanthropology
Publications
Principal Components Analysis fails to recover phylogenetic structure in hominins
Journal ArticlePublisher:bioRxivDate:2025Authors:Levi Y RaskinMaja ŠešeljBárbara D BitarelloSofia StroustrupJacky K LiJohn HuelsenbeckDescription:It is common practice in paleoanthropology to interpret proximity of hominin taxa in a PCA as indicative of phylogenetic relatedness. However, this practice has not been robustly evaluated. Here, we used phylogenetic simulations to test in what cases would we expect PCA to recover the known phylogenetic tree and found that PCA vastly underperformed, recovering up to 2.9% of true underlying trees. This result encourages reconsideration of much of the hominin systematics literature and suggests that future hominin research should prioritize phylogenetic methods.
Hidden state prediction suggests perikymata are unlikely to differentiate Middle Pleistocene hominins
Conference PaperPublisher:AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGYDate:2025Authors:Levi RaskinBarbara Domingues BitarelloMackie O'HaraMaja SeseljThe effects of trait redundancy and information content on hominin phylogenetic inference
Journal ArticlePublisher:bioRxivDate:2024Authors:Levi Yoder RaskinMaja ŠešeljBárbara Domingues BitarelloThe effect of trait redundancy on parsimony-inferred tree topologies from a hominin character matrix [Podium presentation]
Conference PaperPublisher:Paleoanthropology SocietyDate:2024Authors:Levi Y. RaskinMaja ŠešeljBárbara D. BitarelloMoving great ape osteobiographies forward: Digitally linking macro and micro data and media at the individual level
Conference PaperPublisher:AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGYDate:2024Authors:Levi Y RaskinMackie C O'HaraAmy I ErskineMaja SeseljAssessing phylogenetic information content and redundancy in hominin craniodental traits
Journal ArticleDate:2024Authors:LY RaskinM ŠešeljBD BitarelloEstablishing baselines for stone tool variation across the Early Pleistocene: A least effort approach [Podium presentation]
Conference PaperPublisher:Society for American ArchaeologyDate:2023Authors:Jonathan S. ReevesLevi Y. RaskinMatthew J. DouglassDavid R. BraunLeast- effort knapping as a baseline to study social transmission in the Early Stone Age [Poster]
Conference PaperPublisher:Society for American ArchaeologyDate:2023Authors:Levi Y. RaskinJonathan S. ReevesMatthew J. DouglassDavid R. Braun
Teaching
Integrative Biology 35AC Human Biological Variation [Spring 2025]
From: 2025, Until: 2025
Organization:University of California, BerkeleyField:Integrative biology
Description:Graduate student instructor
Biology 1B General Biology [Fall 2024]
From: 2024, Until: 2024
Organization:University of California, BerkelelyField:Biology
Description:Lab instructor for UC Berkeley Biology 1B.