WHO I AM

In Short: Raised by frogs in New Jersey, I started catching creepy crawlies at a young age.

Extended version: My actual parents always encouraged my searches for frogs, snakes, and bugs. Unfortunately, when I started going to school, there was nothing academic that encouraged this passion. Luckily, I went to Sterling College where my advisor, David Gilligan, revitalized my love of nature. This love was kept alive in graduate school, first working on moss ecology at Fordham and then working on leech evolution at the American Museum of Natural History's Richard Gilder Graduate School. I then completed my postdoc with Rob DeSalle by continuing to advance my studies in natural history using advanced methods. Following my postdoc I was an assistant professor of biology at St. Francis College in Brooklyn. Now I am an assistant professor at Medgar Evers College and the Graduate Center, both of the City University of New York. In addition to my love of organisms, I simply enjoy being outside, rock climbing, hiking, or taking pictures of bugs. I also spend my time searching out the next best meal, or an unfamiliar dish.

My research now is broadly covers evolution, ecology, and conservation. Here are a few current projects: