I started my research career as an undergraduate in the lab of Tristan Stayton (Bucknell University), studying functional morphology in turtles. Specifically, I examined the relationship between limb length and shell height and swim speed in painted turtles Chrysemys picta and compared field and laboratory trials. For my honors thesis, I studied the impact of partial tail removal on swim speed in dusky salamanders Desmognathus fuscus.
In 2010, I moved to Australia to start my PhD on phylogenetics, hybridization, and conservation genetics of Australian lizards Pseudemoia spp. My primary supervisors were Dr. Jane Melville (Museum Victoria) and Dr. Devi Stuart-Fox (University of Melbourne). I spent my summers in the Australian Alps catching lizards and trying in vain to morphologically identify them. I found strong biogeographic structure within two specialist species, one of which is endangered and restricted to sky islands in the Victorian Alps. Post-PhD, I began a collaboration with Prof. Craig Moritz (Australian National University) to resolve the deeper evolutionary relationships within Pseudemoia using next generation sequencing (exon capture).
During my time as a project officer/postdoc at Museum Victoria in Jane Melville's lab, I took a break from skinks to investigate phylogeographic structure in ring-tailed dragons Ctenophorus caudicinctus complex and common froglets Crinia signifera using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) generated using DartSeq. I have assisted students and colleagues with DartSeq projects, including work on Ctentophorus isolepis.
From 2016-2018, I was a postdoc in Emily Latch's lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For my first foray into mammalogy, I studied mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). I investigated landscape genomics of a stable hybrid zone and characterizing major histocompatibility complex (MHC) variation across a latitudinal gradient.
I am now an honorary research associate at Museums Victoria, where I'll be re-visiting some of my PhD research on Pseudemoia and revising the taxonomy of the genus.
My work has shifted away from pure research to ecological consulting and environmental policy. However, I am more than happy to collaborate on projects involving the Australian Alps and/or skinks.
During my time as a project officer/postdoc at Museum Victoria in Jane Melville's lab, I took a break from skinks to investigate phylogeographic structure in ring-tailed dragons Ctenophorus caudicinctus complex and common froglets Crinia signifera using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) generated using DartSeq. I have assisted students and colleagues with DartSeq projects, including work on Ctentophorus isolepis.
From 2016-2018, I was a postdoc in Emily Latch's lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. For my first foray into mammalogy, I studied mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). I investigated landscape genomics of a stable hybrid zone and characterizing major histocompatibility complex (MHC) variation across a latitudinal gradient.
I am now an honorary research associate at Museums Victoria, where I'll be re-visiting some of my PhD research on Pseudemoia and revising the taxonomy of the genus.
My work has shifted away from pure research to ecological consulting and environmental policy. However, I am more than happy to collaborate on projects involving the Australian Alps and/or skinks.