ABOUT ME

​

I am broadly interested in understanding the eco-evolutionary dynamics that structure animal form and function. My research focuses primarily on feeding behavior and morphology, and on how the environment, particularly the thermal environment, influences animal behavior given species' physiological and morphological constraints.

​

​

Currently, I am a post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Christopher Anderson's lab at the University of South Dakota. Here, I am collaborating on a project studying the effects of temperature on the feeding the effects of temperature on chameleon’s specialized feeding mechanism across species and populations that inhabit diverse thermal environments. This work includes field work in South Africa to collect dwarf chameleons (genus Bradypodion) to investigate how feeding performance and muscle physiology varies by temperatures and the effects of acclimation.

​

I completed my Ph.D. in Dr. Christian Cox's lab  at Florida International University where I studied the feeding behavior, skull morphology, and phylogenetics of centipede-eating snakes (genus Tantilla). Prior to joining the Cox lab, I completed my Master of Science in Dr. Bruce  Jayne's lab at the University of Cincinnati where I studied the feeding behavior and morphology of crayfish-eating snakes. As an undergraduate, I was a research assistant in Dr. Steve Yanoviak's lab at the University of Louisville where I studied the behavior and biomechanics of swimming ants.