Previously I was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Montana in Jeff Good's lab, and I studied at Indiana University with Matt Hahn.
I'm excited to understand the processes and patterns of molecular evolution by using genomics and phylogenetics, and working through some of the problems that vast amounts of genomic data has presented. To this end, I have worked on modeling mutation rate variation in mammals, detecting convergent evolution on genomic data, and analyzing gene family evolution in a number of species.
I contribute to and develop software to facilitate research in comparative genomics. I contributed to CAFE to account for error in gene family analysis, and I developed the program GRAMPA to study polyploidy in the context of gene tree topologies. I now develop and maintain PhyloAcc to identify substitution rate shifts in phylogenetic trees. See my Software & Links page for a complete list of software I have been involved in.
I also teach workshops to foster best practices and reproducibility in computational biology. My teachings include subjects that span basic computational, programming, and data science skills to more advanced topics like genome assembly and phylogenetics. In the past, I have taught at the Conservation Genetics workshop (ConGen) and I help teach a variety of subjects in our group.
Outside of the lab, I have a passion for
do
gs
and animals
in general. I also enjoy being active and doing
puzzles
with my partner!
