I completed my undergraduate degree in Biology at Grinnell College in 2010 and am now an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate student in the Papaj Lab.  So far I have worked with Dan Papaj studying how thermoregulatory behavior changes over development in pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) caterpillars and with Regis Ferriere modeling the effects of resource variation on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity and genetic divergence.
           
I am broadly interested in the role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptation and also evolution in response to anthropogenic changes.  For my dissertation, I plan to integrate these two topics by studying local adaptation of behavior and traits associated with its plasticity to urban environments.  Tucson will serve as my primary city of study, and am currently assessing which arthropod I will focus my research on.