My thesis investigated the developmental and genetic changes underlying the evolution of different ecologically important craniofacial phenotypes in a geologically young radiation of pupfishes (genus Cyprinodon) endemic to San Salvador Island, Bahamas. Combining classic morphology with emerging technologies in genomics and cell biology, I was able to show how changes to gene expression produce novel craniofacial phenotypes by affecting jaw growth rates via modifications to cell proliferation dynamics in the heads of each species during development.

I am currently an NIH postdoctoral fellow at CU Anschutz Medical Campus, where I am working on neural crest cell migration with Kristin Artinger and Rytis Prekeris.

Plant-associated microbes affect a wide-variety of plant functional traits, and thus they likely affect patterns of plant local adaptation. However, the role of microbes in plant local adaptation is rarely tested. For my dissertation, I explored this idea using reciprocal transplant experiments, moving seeds and soils between limestone barrens and old-fields in northern New York. I found that microbes change patterns of plant local adaptation and are particularly important for plants growing in the harsh limestone barren environment. Upon completion of my PhD, I received an NSF-postdoctoral research fellowship in biology (PRFB) and am currently working at Washington State University exploring coevolution between Medicago lupulina and Ensifer meliloti using museum specimens.