My research investigates the physiological, evolutionary, and behavioral ecology of lizards. Some current research topics include stochastic population dynamics of Xantusia lizards, microclimates of Xantusia habitats, optimal foraging in arboreal lizards, physiological ecology of lizard eggs, and the evolution of thermal performance curves. Past projects have investigated tuatara conservation, tarantula locomotion, lizard running performance, and lizard thermal biology. I do a mix of field work, lab work, and mathematical modeling.

I studied biology and math at Stanford University, then moved to the University of Washington to work on my Ph.D. in Zoology. I did several short-term teaching gigs at the University of Texas and Middlebury College, then did postdoctoral research with Warren Porter at the University of Wisconsin (Zoology Department). I have been teaching biology at Harvey Mudd College since 1993. Harvey Mudd is a small undergraduate STEM-focused liberal arts college.

My research addresses knowledge gaps that limit our understanding of cultured clams and natural or restored oyster reefs in Florida’s coastal and estuarine ecosystems. I examines the effects of water quality on shellfish productivity, the physiological mechanisms that underlie those effects, the provision of ecosystem services by shellfish, and the development of models to predict impacts of water quality parameters on shellfish productivity and provision of ecosystem services. I provide leadership and support to the shellfish industry, agriculture industry, and citizens of Florida in the areas of aquaculture and molluscan invasions and engage with county and statewide faculty to identify emerging industry needs, collaboratively conduct appropriate research, and deliver sustainable solutions to stakeholders.

I recieved an MS from the University of Oregon where I was advised by Drs. Bob and Nora Terwilliger. I earned a PhD from the College of William and Mary, Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences where I worked with Dr. roger Mann. I was a postdoc at Macalester College, in St. Paul Minnesota, as well as at SUNY Stony Brook. I have been at the University of Florida for over 20 years.

I have broad interests in the organismal biology of aquatic invertebrates. Our work has focused especially on the evolution and development of regeneration and asexual reproduction and on the biology of freshwater annelids. Our work spans levels of inquiry, from molecular and cell biology, to physiology, to ecology and evolution.

I received my PhD in Ecology and Evolution from Stony Brook University and was a postdoc in Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California at Berkeley. I am currently and Associate Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.

My research investigates how conserved endocrine signaling pathways regulate development across levels of biological organization, using crustacean molting as a model. Molting enables growth, regeneration, and life-history transitions in arthropods and requires precise coordination between hormonal signals and organ-level responses. In crustaceans, molting is driven by ecdysteroids, particularly 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-E), produced by the Y-organs (YOs). While molt-inhibiting hormone suppresses YO activity, this framework does not fully explain dynamic changes in ecdysteroid production across molt stages. I focus on methyl farnesoate (MF), a sesquiterpenoid hormone with context-dependent effects on molting. I hypothesize that MF modulates Y-organ function through a conserved transcriptional pathway analogous to the insect MEKRE93 cascade, shaping ecdysteroid output across the molt cycle. Using transcriptomic, phylogenetic, and in vitro endocrine approaches in Gecarcinus lateralis and Carcinus maenas, I show that MF acts as a stage-dependent modulatory signal. This work reveals how conserved hormonal pathways are reused across Arthropoda to generate diverse developmental strategies, informing comparative models of growth, metamorphosis, and phenotypic plasticity. These insights improve our understanding of how arthropods respond to environmental change and endocrine disruption, with implications for ecology, evolution, and applied management.

I recently graduated with my Ph.D. in Biological Sciences Colorado State University in May 2025. I investigate the regulation of molting physiology in crabs from an endocrine-transcriptional perspective through which I get to incorporate molecular techniques with bioinformatic, transcriptomic (RNA-seq), and phylogenetic tools. At CSU, I also developed invertebrate zoology lab curriculum, received my graduate teaching certificate, and assist running a new lab for students interested in research (regardless of the major). In 2017 I graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Biology (with a double minor in Chemistry and Spanish) from Aurora University, a small liberal arts school with no research opportunities. Nonetheless, my professors encouraged my research journey by putting me on some collaborative semester long projects investigating captive snake behavior and developing a biomimetic matrix for an ongoing breast cancer study. After that point I participated in a NSF-REU experience with North Dakota State University and the USDA where I looked into starvation effects on solitary bee development.

I am broadly interested in population-level genomics of ocean species across broad geographic ranges. I use genomics to understand species distribution, adaptive potential, and evolutionary response mechanisms in the face of climate change.
My research specifically focuses on population genomics of Dungeness crab (Metacarcinus magister) across their broad latitudinal range from Alaska to Santa Barbara. Populations experience large gradients in environmental conditions, including temperature, pH, and salinity, all of which play a role in development and physiology. These large environmental gradients can lead to genetic clines, suggesting the presence of adaptive genetic variation. This adaptive genetic variation and its ability to spread across its broad geographic range may be essential in enabling M. magister to adapt to climate change. As such, it is possible that M. magister populations in the southern range may have adaptations for warmer water temperatures, compared to populations in northern regions, variation that could be important both for adapting to changing ocean conditions and for effective fisheries management. My research uses whole genome resequencing to examine stock structure and adaptive potential in M. magister.

Austin Betancourt-Sanchez (she/hers) is a first generation student turned PhD candidate in UCLA’s department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology under Paul Barber. She completed her undergraduate degree at San José State University and a Master’s at UCLA. She is interested in utilizing genetic techniques to understand marine ecology and conservation of marine species across broad geographic ranges. She uses genomics to understand species distribution, adaptive potential, and evolutionary response mechanisms in the face of climate change. For her, it is critical not only to do research that is essential for the health of our oceans, but also to advocate and involve those who sustain their livelihood from our oceans.

My research lies at the intersection of control theory and biology, seeking general principles that explain how living systems sense, decide, and act under uncertainty. During my PhD at Johns Hopkins University, I studied chemotaxis in the single-celled amoeba Dictyostelium, developing mathematical models that showed how feedback and nonlinear dynamics enable robust directional sensing despite noise and variability.

As a postdoctoral fellow, I shifted to organism-level behavior, studying how animals actively shape the sensory information they receive. Using weakly electric fish, I combined theory with closed-loop experiments to demonstrate that active sensing movements are themselves feedback-controlled, and to identify general strategies that balance exploration with task execution. My theoretical work establishes when active sensing improves observability and stabilizes control in adaptive systems.

In parallel, I have contributed to collaborative projects on Drosophila flight control and quantitative systems pharmacology models of combination cancer therapies, reflecting my broader interest in translating control-theoretic insights across biological scales.

Debojyoti Biswas is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics at Johns Hopkins University, where he is part of the LIMBS lab led by Prof. Noah J. Cowan. His current research explores the dynamics of sensorimotor interactions in animals, with a focus on active sensing–how animals deliberately modify their movement patterns to alter the sensory feedback. He earned a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering and an MSE in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Johns Hopkins University, where his doctoral research focused on modeling cellular signaling pathways involved in cell motility. He also holds an MTech in Electrical Engineering (Controls and Automation) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and a BE in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur.

Plant-microbial ecology.

PhD Candidate at Northern Arizona University.

I started my career studying CORT affects on behavior in captive birds in isolation; over time, I've incorporated environmental, ecological, evolutionary and conservation perspectives into my work (in that order, actually...). I find the fields of physiological ecology and environmental endocrinology so potent because they 1) evaluate patterns of hormones, performance, reproduction and survival in the field, 2) then test those patterns in more controlled, captive situations, and finally, 3) test those controlled relationships experimentally back in field settings to broaden the ecological significance of the findings. I enjoy integrating across cellular/protein work to behavior and fitness studies. Recently, I have been applying my work in stress physiology to conservation applications; conservation physiology provides insight into the health of free-living populations, and can be used to assess individual/population success across the annual cycle.

I completed my PhD with Dr. John Wingfield in 1998, and did my post-doc with Dr. Miles Orchinik from 98-2001. I was an assistant professor at UT-Austin for 5 years, and have been at The University of Montana ever since. I am now a full professor and an ex-administrator.