OEB Seminars

In the fall and spring semesters OEB seminars are generally held in Morrill Science Center 2 South, Room 222, Fridays at 4pm, unless otherwise noted. For seminars noted as remote, the Zoom link will be emailed to the OEB list-serv. 

All informal gathering precedes seminars at 3:45pm.
Each seminar is followed by an opportunity for continued conversation with the speaker.

To find more seminars in the Life Sciences, visit the Graduate Programs in Life Sciences Calendar.
For a listing of seminars offered through the College of Natural Sciences, go to CNS Department and Program Seminars

Contact: UMass Seminars IDGP

Spring 2024 Seminar Schedule

Feb 9

Fine-scale selection to temperature in a highly dispersive marine invasive species

Speaker: Carolyn Tepolt

Affiliation: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Host: Brian Cheng

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Feb 16

Leveraging evolutionary trade-offs in the development of phage therapy

Speaker: Paul Turner

Affiliation: Yale University

Host: Norm Johnson

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Feb 23

Genomic variation underlying complex life history traits and evolutionary potential 

Speaker: Tanya Lama

Affiliation: Smith College

Host: Jeff Blanchard

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Mar 1

1. Fitness consequences of thermal adaptation in the marine gastropod Urosalpinx cinerea

2. The implications of adaptive variation in molting behavior for diversification in and conservation of North American passerines

Respective Speakers

1. Alison Ruglia

2. Paul Doughtery

Affiliation: UMASS Amherst (postdoc) - Cheng and Stager labs

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Mar 8

  1. Visual perception in the jumping spider brain
  2. Drivers of establishment and invasion of non-native plants on islands
  3. Using genomics and simulation to model the population dynamics of sharks and stingrays
  4. Freshwater Mussel Conservation in Wadeable Streams

Respective Distinguished Graduate Student Speakers:

  1. Alex Winsor
  2. Will Pfadenhauer
  3. John Swenson
  4. Alexa Hershberger

Affiliation: UMass Amherst

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Mar 15

It’s a gut feeling: the evolutionary ecology of host-microbiota interactions from general insect pollinators to bumble bees

Speaker: Ben Sadd

Affiliation: Illinois State University

Host: Elyse McCormick and Lynn Adler

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Mar 29

Exploring Microbial Trophic Interactions in Environmental Microbiomes

Speaker: Javier Ceja Navarro

Affiliation: Northern Arizona University

Host: Rachel Hestrin

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Apr 5

The fascinating world of bees: from novel monitoring tools to landscape-level stressors

Speakers: Laura Figueroa

Affiliation: UMASS Amherst (faculty)

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Apr 12

Social insects - ancient civilisations?

Speaker: Lars Chitka

Affiliation: Queen Mary College, London

Host: Paul Katz

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Apr 19

Life on the edge: evolution, physiology, and conservation of salt marsh sparrows

Speaker: Phred Benham

Affiliation: University of California, Berkeley

Host: Maria Stager

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

Apr 26

Hair Morphology: A Window into Human Adaptation and Diversity

Speaker: Tina Lasis

Affiliation: University of Michigan

Host: Jason Kamilar

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link

May 3

Coral Immunity

Speaker: Nikki Traylor-Knowles

Affiliation: University of Miami

Host: Lisa Komoroske

Morrill Science Center 222

Zoom link