Darwin Fellows

Darwin Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Darwin Fellow Program, founded in 1995, brings promising young postdoctoral researchers to UMASS Amherst. The two-year positions provide a unique combination of teaching and research responsibilities, and are excellent preparation for academic positions. The fellowship program embodies the interdepartmental collaboration that characterizes the OEB Graduate Program. Darwin Fellows are active participants in OEB, acting as mentors to graduate students, conducting research, leading seminar courses, and teaching courses in the Biology Department.

Current Darwin Fellow

Dr. Ted Stankowich studies antipredator behavior, risk assessment, and flight decisions in animals and is interested in understanding the influence of natural selection on the cognitive processes involved in animals’ assessments of predators and the ecological factors that influence the decision to flee during predatory encounters. Ted received his Ph.D. in Animal Behavior from the University of California, Davis working on predator recognition, risk assessment, and antipredator behavior in Columbian black-tailed deer. As a Darwin Fellow, he is working with Elizabeth Jakob at UMass Amherst on antipredator responses in jumping spiders and the effects of individual variation in antipredator behavior on responses to familiar and unfamiliar predators.

Former Darwin Fellows

Dr. Toby Kiers received her PhD from University of California, Davis under R. Ford Denison. She is interested in the evolution and maintenance of cooperation between species. In her research and collaborations, she asks the question: Why do symbionts provide services to a host at a cost to themselves? One idea is that cooperation between species can be enforced if individuals are able to actively reward good partners or punish less cooperative ones. Using the legume-rhizobia mutualism andthe symbiosis between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizae, she investigates punishment (sanction) mechanisms and other methods of indirect resource control bypartners. As a Darwin Fellow, she is working with Dr. Lynn Adler to examine cooperative stability in an obligate pollination mutualism. Toby Kiers is also interested in how to integrate evolutionary theory with practical on-farm application, with the goal of understanding how agricultural practices influence the performance and eolution of symbiont communities in cropping systems

Dr. Dan Ardia studies life history tradeoffs between behavior and physiology, with an emphasis on individual variation. He received his PhD from Cornell University studying individual and geographic variation in tradeoffs between immune function and reproductive effort in tree swallows and European starlings. As a Darwin Fellow, he worked with Ethan Clotfelter at Amherst College to study incubation costs and dynamics in birds. Dr. Ardia is now an Assistant Professor of Biology at Franklin and Marshall College

Dr. David Lahti received a PhD in philosophy from the Whitefield Institute, Oxford; and a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan, under Dr. Robert B. Payne. At Michigan he examined the evolutionary consequences of the introduction of the African village weaverbird into new habitats. This research dealt with avian brood parasitism, rapid evolution, local adaptation, and changes in traits in response to changes in natural selection. As a Darwin Fellow he works with Dr. Jeff Podos and teaches Evolution. He continues to work on evolution and behavior in weaverbirds, and will also be collaborating with Dr. Podos on the importance of vocal constraints in the evolution of complex song in birds.

Dr. Geoff Morse works on the interface between ecological differentiation and evolutionary diversification. As a graduate student with Dr. Brian Farrell at Harvard University he focused on the role of ecological interactions in structuring the trajectory and tempo of phylogenies within the bruchine seed beetles. Research included phylogenetic analysis at the subfamily level, and interspecific phylogeographic and population structure analyses. During his Darwin Fellowship he will work with Dr. Ben Normark to examine the interaction between genetic system, phylogenesis, geography, and ecological interactions in structuring the diversification of diaspidid armored scale insects. Dr. Morse has accepted a faculty position at Arizona State University.

Dr. Dianne Baker received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences where she studied the central mechanisms mediating the relationship between energy balance and age of pubertal development in salmonids. As a Darwin Fellow she worked with Dr. Stephen McCormick at the Conte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory and taught Physiology. Dr. Baker began a faculty position at the University of Mary Washington in September 2006.

Dr. Barbara Whitlock received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2000, working with Dr. David Baum. Much of her dissertation research focused on a group of primarily tropical and subtropical plants in the family Sterculiaceae ("the chocolate family") that shows extraordinary morphological diversity in flowers and fruits. She is interested in reconstructing Angiosperm phylogenies at all taxonomic levels to address fundamental questions on the evolution and diversification of flowering plants. As a Darwin Fellow, she worked with Dr. Yin-Long Qiu examining molecular rates in early Angiosperm lineages. She began a faculty position at the University of Miami in January 2003.

Dr. Andrew Hendry received his Ph.D. under Dr. Thomas Quinn at the University of Washington (1998), and did postdoctoral work under Dr. Eric Taylor at the University of British Columbia. He is an evolutionary ecologist. with interests in (1) interactions between selection and gene flow during adaptive population divergence, (2) spatial and temporal scales of population structure, and (3) patterns and rates of micro-evolution in contemporary populations. A recurring theme of my research is the testing of evolutionary theory using empirical data gathered from fishes. While a Darwin Fellow, Hendry worked with Dr. Ben Letcher to apply evolutionary theory to issues in Atlantic salmon restoration. He began a faculty position at McGill University in Fall 2002.

Dr. Jim O'Reilly received his Ph.D. in from Northern Arizona University in 1998. He worked in the laboratory of Dr. Elizabeth Brainerd where he investigated the evolution of the physiological basis of movement in vertebrates, the emergence of novel complex functional systems during vertebrate evolution and the natural history of reptiles and amphibians. Dr. O'Reilly began a faculty position at the University of Miami in fall of 2001.

Dr. Karen Kellogg, who received her Ph.D. under Dr. Jay Stauffer at Penn State University in August, 1997, is a behavioral ecologist studying the evolutionary processes that gave rise to the diverse cichlid fishes of Lake Malawi, Africa. She worked in the laboratories of Dr. Francis Juanes and Dr. Katherine Fite. Dr. Kellogg now directs the Environmental Studies Program at Skidmore College.

Dr. Andrew Simons is a molecular systematist who received his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. During his Darwin Fellowship. he investigated the evolution, morphology, behavior and biogeography of fish while working with Dr. William E. Bemis. Dr. Simons left his fellowship early to begin a faculty position at the University of Minnesota where he is now an Associate Professor.

Dr. Alison Hunter received her Ph.D. in Ecology in 1992 from McGill University. Her background is in terrestrial population and community ecology. She worked with Dr. Joseph Elkinton, Professor of Entomology, where she investigated gypsy moth phenology relative to host budburst. She is currently at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Paul Morris received his Ph.D. in Geology from Harvard University in 1991. His specialty is invertebrate paleontology. Morris worked with Dr. Emily CoBabe, Assistant Professor of Geosciences, where he examined the extent to which environmental change correlates with ecological and evolutionary change in the fossil record. He is currently at the Academy of Science in Philadelphia.