About me

I am a professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut. I received my B.S. from the College of Idaho and my Ph.D. from Stanford University. After post-doctoral work at the University of California,¹ the University of California - Davis, and Stanford, I moved to Connecticut and I've been there ever since.

I've taught introductory biology, evolutionary biology, philosophy of science, population genetics, and conservation biology since joining UConn, and much of my current research focuses on understanding the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for the great diversity of plants in the Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, with a particular emphasis on the genera Protea and Pelargonium. That work is part of a large, multi-investigator Dimensions of Biodiversity project funded by the National Science Foundation. I am also interested in developing statistical methods for analysis of genetic diversity in geographically structured populations and for demographic analysis of perennial plant populations. Until about 10 years ago, my research focused on the evolution of plant mating systems.

If you're really interested, you can get a better sense of the kind of research I've done by looking at my Google Scholar page. And if you're really interested, you can download a PDF of my curriculum vitae.