Research
Research in the Department of Biology spans the entire breadth of biology: from ecology and evolution to molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Our research is supported by a wide array of funding sources, including NIH, NSF and the Welch Foundation.
Many departmental faculty members actively participate in campus-wide interdisciplinary graduate research programs, including Genetics & Genomics, Neuroscience, Molecular and Environmental Plant Sciences, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Cryptic speciation; evolution of reproductive isolation; body size evolution; species packing and community assembly; range determinants; comparative physiological ecology; integrative evolutionary ecology
Blackmon Profile | Blackmon Lab page
Evolutionary genetics and genomics using both theoretical and empirical approaches. Empirical methods used include bioinformatics, phylogenetics, quantitative genetics.
Ecology and conservation of birds; anthropogenic impacts on species distribution and habitat; use of novel techniques for wildlife detection; invasive species management.
Molecular basis of phenotypic variation and adaptation, Role of repetitive genome in evolution of sexual dimorphism and sexual conflict
Criscione Profile | Criscione Lab Website
Ecology, evolution, and genetics of parasites
Fitzpatrick Profile | Fitzpatrick Lab Webpage
Trait evolution in animals, mathematical modeling of evolution, behavioral ecology, social and sexual selection, non-invasive field techniques
Identifying how neuron connectivity, physiology, and function vary to generate the sex and species-specific courtship song behaviors in Drosophila melanogaster.
Moran Profile | Moran Lab Website
Local adaptation and speciation in fishes. Genetic basis of convergently evolved traits. Behavior, genomics, neurogenomics.
Murphy Profile | Murphy Lab Website
Phylogenomics, Comparative Genomics, Sex Chromosomes, Cats, Mammals
Paredes-Sabja Profile | Paredes-Sabja Lab Website
Molecular mechanisms of C. difficile pathogenesis and exosporium-assembly of C. difficile spores
Smotherman Profile | Smotherman Lab Webpage
Neurobiology of animal communication: sensory-motor integration
Strader Profile | Strader Lab Website
Evolutionary drivers of resiliency, molecular ecology, marine invertebrates
Adaptive coloration of marine invertebrates; distribution, behavior, and classification of eastern Pacific Decapoda Crustacea