Current Lab Members
Our lab group is an awesome and energetic mix of investigators at all levels of education and experience. Check us out!
Dr. Javan
Carter (he/him) NSF INTERN Fellow 2020 Fall 2017 - Spring 2022 BS Old Dominion University, 2016 Javan completed his Ph.D in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department with a focus on evolutionary genomics. Javan's research focused on reconstructing phylogenetic hypotheses for the genus Hirundo and for the subspecies complex, Hirundo rustica, using genomics data sets. Javan loves working with undergraduate students in the lab and in the classroom and is a star mentor, teacher, and baker! Currently, Dr. Carter is a Bioinformatic Scientist at RTI International and the proud father of twins! |
Heather Kenny-Duddela (she/her) PhD candidate NSF Graduate Fellow Fall 2020 - BS UC Davis 2014 MS William & Mary 2020 Heather is interested in understanding the importance of behavioral variation in different ecological contexts, and in exploring how individual variation in behavioral traits scale up to influence group, population, and community level processes. She is fascinated by questions such as "how do individual behavioral phenotypes mediate species interactions?" and "how can environmental conditions shape behavioral diversity within populations?". In her master's research, Heather measured aggression and neophobia (hesitancy to approach an unfamiliar object) of eastern bluebirds and investigated how these traits influenced bluebird responses to human-caused noise pollution. She is excited to join the Safran Lab and explore similar questions in the barn swallow system. Check out her video about behavioral diversity in wildlife populations! |
Dr. Molly
McDermott (she/her) ITG Fellow National Geographic Young Explorer PhD Fall 2017 - Spring 2022 Data Scientist, Side x Side May 2022 - 2023 BA Evergreen College 2012 MS Univ Alaska 2017 Molly studied the role of environmental context on trait expression and evolution. For her dissertation research, Molly used tag technology to track individual movements both locally and globally. She conducted exciting field experiments on life history trade offs, wrote a comprehensive review of how environmental context shapes morphological trait expression and analyzed the role of non-breeding context on trait development.During her time at CU and beyond, Molly has been an important collaborator on the Side x Side project. Read more about Molly here |
Dr. Drew
Schield (he/him) NSF Postdoctoral Fellow. Feb 2020 - December 2023 Drew is interested in the genomics of adaptation and speciation, and especially how evolutionary processes like recombination, gene flow, and selection shape diversity across the genomes of natural populations. He earned his Ph.D. in Todd Castoe’s lab at the University of Texas at Arlington, studying snake genomics and population genetics. His dissertation work focused on population structure and gene flow within the Western Rattlesnake species complex (Crotalus viridis + oreganus and relatives) and other related species (e.g., C. atrox and C. scutulatus). He continued work as a postdoc in the Castoe Lab for two years, working on questions related to genome structure and function in reptiles, snake sex chromosome evolution, and meiotic recombination in snakes. In the Safran Lab, Drew studies the genomic architecture of speciation in barn swallows. His work will focus on the genomic landscape of divergence and how it relates to mate choice trait variation throughout the genus Hirundo. He is interested in using this framework to test the ‘genomic coupling’ hypothesis, which predicts that non-random associations between genomic regions underlying mate choice trait variation will accumulate over time, reducing gene flow and promoting reproductive isolation. |
|
Our Principal Investigator
Dr. Rebecca
Safran (she/her)
ProfessorBS University of Michigan 1991
MS Humboldt State University 1997
PhD Cornell University 2005
The role of adaptation in shaping phenotypic variation within and among closely related populations is a central theme in my research program. As an evolutionary ecologist, I am interested in the biological causes and consequences of variation in phenotype using molecular, comparative, and experimental methods. By adopting new comparative approaches (both empirical and synthetic), my current work is focused on determining how trait function affects patterns of gene flow. We are currently establishing new methods to test hypotheses about the relative contributions of geographic distance, history, natural and sexual selection in the evolution of reproductive isolation.
My research group takes advantage of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica species complex, a highly tractable, widespread and diverse study system. By conducting experiments and long-term studies both locally and across the breeding range of this young and monophyletic species complex, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic variation from proximate (mechanistic) and functional (evolutionary) perspectives and how these affect patterns of gene flow and the evolution of reproductive isolation.
In all of our research endeavors, my research group integrates behavioral, physiological and genetic perspectives. As such, my lab is set up to conduct a variety of molecular, physiological, and endocrinological assays, and we also possess various tools for objectively measuring phenotypic variation. Presently, we conduct all of our empirical research on wild populations in the field, where experimental and comparative work are complemented by several molecular investigations in the lab.
Read more about our current research throughout this website and by taking a look here and also here.
Safran (she/her)
ProfessorBS University of Michigan 1991
MS Humboldt State University 1997
PhD Cornell University 2005
The role of adaptation in shaping phenotypic variation within and among closely related populations is a central theme in my research program. As an evolutionary ecologist, I am interested in the biological causes and consequences of variation in phenotype using molecular, comparative, and experimental methods. By adopting new comparative approaches (both empirical and synthetic), my current work is focused on determining how trait function affects patterns of gene flow. We are currently establishing new methods to test hypotheses about the relative contributions of geographic distance, history, natural and sexual selection in the evolution of reproductive isolation.
My research group takes advantage of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica species complex, a highly tractable, widespread and diverse study system. By conducting experiments and long-term studies both locally and across the breeding range of this young and monophyletic species complex, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic variation from proximate (mechanistic) and functional (evolutionary) perspectives and how these affect patterns of gene flow and the evolution of reproductive isolation.
In all of our research endeavors, my research group integrates behavioral, physiological and genetic perspectives. As such, my lab is set up to conduct a variety of molecular, physiological, and endocrinological assays, and we also possess various tools for objectively measuring phenotypic variation. Presently, we conduct all of our empirical research on wild populations in the field, where experimental and comparative work are complemented by several molecular investigations in the lab.
Read more about our current research throughout this website and by taking a look here and also here.