I'm an evolutionary ecologist and my research focuses on speciation in birds. I completed my BS and MS degrees in Biology at Andrews University in Michigan. My fabulous professors there instilled a passion--and supplied opportunities--for research, which I want to pass on to students at Union.
One problem with being an evolutionary biologist is that not all species are tractable for study in the lab or over short time scales, so in lieu of a time machine, I use hybridizing species to investigate mechanisms of reproductive isolation. This foray into hybridization began during my MS work on gull species in the state of Washington and continued into my PhD work on songbirds. I'm a “dry lab” scientist, which means I pore over datasheets and statistical programming languages for most of my research; however, my first love is field biology, so I make sure I have an excuse to launch into fieldwork during the summer.
I started developing my teaching skills as a lab assistant at Andrews, and took active teaching roles while a PhD student at the University of Wyoming. These included stints as instructor of record and co-leading a field course in Ecuador. Here at Union, I teach Elements of Biology, Environmental Science, General Botany, General Zoology, Ecology, and Evolution.
