Faculty

OEB brings together more than 75 faculty, providing critical mass needed for effective graduate training. Our faculty are drawn from 10 departments at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and from across the Five College System (Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, and Smith Colleges), as well as from off-campus institutions. OEB faculty are engaged in cutting edge research, with research clusters in four broad areas:

Animal Behavior

Behavioral ecology, communication, learning

Ecology

Community ecology, population ecology, landscape ecology, conservation biology

Evolutionary Biology

Evolution, phylogenetics, population genetics, molecular evolution

Organismal Biology

Physiology, morphology, paleontology

All OEB faculty are listed below. To help applicants to our graduate program locate a faculty sponsor, the faculty list can be filtered by four broad research areas. A list of faculty who are activiely seeking graduate students can be found HERE

Name	Research Interests
Lynn Adler Professor, Biology	Ecology and evolution of insect-plant interactions
R. Craig Albertson Professor of Biology, University of Massachusetts	Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Dominique R. Alfandari Professor of Developmental Biology, University of Massachusetts	Cell migration in Developmental systems
Courtney C. Babbitt Associate Professor, Department of Biology	Evolutionary Genomics
Madelaine Bartlett Associate Professor, Biology	Evolution of plant development; Molecular evolution
Jesse Bellemare Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, Smith College	Plant ecology, biogeography and evolution
Jeffrey L. Blanchard Associate Professor, Department of Biology	Microbial cellular and community networks; influence of environmental change on the evolution of molecular processes; systems biology; bioinformatics
Patricia Brennan Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences, Mt. Holyoke College	Evolutionary consequences of interactions between behavior, morphology and the environment
Jill L. Bubier Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science, Mount Holyoke College	Carbon cycling in northern wetlands
John P. Buonaccorsi Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Statistics	Statistical theory, methods and applcations, Quantitative ecology
Ana Caicedo Professor, Biology	Evolutionary genomics of adaptation and divergence in wild, weedy and crop plant species
Erin Conlon Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics	Statistical methods in genomics and bioinformatics
Graziella V. DiRenzo Adjunct Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Conservation Assistant Unit Leader of Wildlife U. S. Geological Survey MA Cooperative Research Unit	Quantitative ecology, population dynamics, applied ecology
Robert L. Dorit Professor of Biological Sciences, Smith College	Molecular evolution; comparative & statistical approaches to molecular & genome evolution
Gerald B. Downes Professor, Department of Biology	Development and function of spinal cord networks
Lillian Fritz–Laylin Associate Professor of Biology	Quantitative Evolutionary Cell Biology
John G. Gibbons Assistant Professor of Food Science	Genomics, Evolution, Bioinformatics
Brigitte M. Holt Associate Professor of Anthropology	Biocultural evolution of the genus Homo, functional morphology and biomechanics of the appendicular skeleton, paleoecology, forager ecology, Old World prehistory, Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene ecology, bone mass and physical activity.
Duncan J. Irschick Professor, Department of Biology	Functional Morphology, Evolution, and Behavioral Ecology
Elizabeth M. Jakob Professor, Biology Department	Animal behavior, especially perception, learning, and social behavior
Norman A. Johnson Adjunct Research Assistant Professor, Biology & Environmental Conservation	Evolutionary genetics, evolution of development
Jason M. Kamilar Associate Professor of Anthropology	Comparative biology of primates and other mammals
Laura A. Katz Elsie Damon Simonds Professor of Biological Sciences, Smith College	Genome evolution and biodiversity studies of microbial eukaryotes
Paul S. Katz Director of Neuroscience and Professor of Biology	Neuroethology, central pattern generators, single neuron RNA-seq, developmental neuroscience, evolution of neural circuits, molluscan systems
Diane A. Kelly Senior Research Fellow, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences	Neurobiology, biomechanics, and evolution of reproductive systems.
Lisa Komoroske Assistant Professor, Environmental Conservation	Conservation genomics and ecophysiology in marine and freshwater ecosystems
Michael L. Lavine Emeritus Professor, Mathematics and Statistics	Statistical Theory and Methods
Benjamin Letcher Adjunct Associate Professor of Environmental Conservation Section Leader, Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center	Population ecology of stream fishes
Rachel A. Levin Senior Lecturer, Department of Biology, Amherst College	Plant systematics, biogeography and ecology
Li–Jun Ma Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology	Fungal comparative genomics, eukaryotic genome evolution and organism adaptation
Jill Miller Professor of Biology, Amherst College	Ecology and evolution of plant reproductive systems, molecular phylogenetic systematics, population and evolutionary genetics, hybridization and speciation
Benjamin Normark Department Head and Professor of Biology	Evolution of alternative genetic systems; evolution of host range; scale insect systematics
Jeffrey E. Podos Professor, Department of Biology	Mechanisms and evolution of vertebrate behavior, bioacoustics
Adam H. Porter Associate Professor of Biology Admissions Committee Chair, OEB	Evolutionary biology; hybridization, introgression & speciation; ecological genetics; evolution of regulatory genetic pathways; computer and mathematical modeling; invasion and range expansion; insects, especially butterflies and moths
Stan P. Rachootin Professor of Biological Sciences, Mount Holyoke College	Evolution and development, history of evolutionary theory
Stephen Rich Professor of Microbiology	Molecular Evolution and Population Genomics of Arthropod-borne Microbial Pathogens
Charles Ross Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Hampshire College	Ecological and evolutionary genetics of hybrid zones and speciation
Tristram Seidler Extension Assistant Professor, Biology	Plant ecology, plant diversity, invasive plants, climate change
David A. Sela Associate Professor, Department of Food Science	Nutrition, human milk, gut microbiome, systems biology, host-microbe interactions/co-evolution, translational research
Lynnette Sievert Professor of Anthropology	Evolution of menopause
Michelle Staudinger Adjunct Assistant Professor, Environmental Conservation Science Coordinator, DOI Northeast Climate Adaptation Science Center	Climate change impacts on coastal biodiversity and trophic relationships
Ethan J. Temeles Professor of Biology, Amherst College	Foraging behavior; Territoriality; Intra- and Interspecific competition; Resource partitioning; Mutualism; Coevolution; Sexual dimorphisms and polymorphisms
Elsbeth Walker Professor, Biology Department	Molecular genetic approaches to studying mechanisms of metal ion homeostasis in plants
Tammy L. Wilson Research Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Conservation USGS Massachusetts Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Assistant Unit Leader	Landscape ecology, spatial ecology, wildlife conservation and management, structured decision-making

Science is Brewing!

Upcoming Events

Friday, Mar 31

Paula Kover

Can we find adaptive genes using whole genome re-sequencing?

Friday, Apr 7

Sara Hermann

[CANCELED] Exploring a more holistic view of predation by considering both consumptive and non-consumptive effects on prey ecology

Friday, Apr 14

Kristina Smiley: "Lactation hormones in birds and dads: How prolactin shapes parenting behaviors across taxa" (Host: Luke Remage-Healey)
Allison Rugila: "Acclimatization in a changing environment linking larval and juvenile performance in the quahog Mercenaria mercenaria" (Host: Brian Cheng)

OEB Postdoc Talks