My research approaches include a variety of biogeographic, behavioral, neuroethological, historical, and genetic methods and make use of cicadas, which are relatively common hemipteran insects with a worldwide distribution.

My undergraduate research, under Dr. Charles Remington, led to a long-term interest in secondary contact, especially the problem of whether populations merge or separate upon meeting. I completed a senior research project that was a simple molecular phylogeny of major insect orders.

As a graduate student under Richard D. Alexander, I became interested in speciation, reproductive isolation, and mate choice. I studied both syrphic flies (genus Arctophila) and periodical cicadas (genus Magicicada). I worked as a curatorial assistant in the Insect division of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, and I participated in many of the active and engaging discussion groups in the Museum.

As a postdoctoral researcher, under Dr. Chris Simon, I further developed the molecular biology skills I first used as an undergraduate. I studied gene flow in a periodical cicada contact zone, the genetics of periodical cicada life cycle switching, and paternal leakage. I also contributed to ongoing systematic projects in the Simon Lab, and I collected cicadas in North America, New Zealand, and Australia.

After finishing my postdoctoral research, I taught at the University of Connecticut, Yale University, and The Ohio State University. I taught introductory courses as well as a variety of different ecology and evolution courses. See my teaching page for more detail. I've also been experimenting with online and interactive teaching technologies.

Currently, I'm working on mapping species boundaries and using niche modeling approaches to understand biogeography. The Periodical Cicada Mapping Project is the homepage for this project. I'm also working on the neurophysiology of cicada sound production and perceoption and a revision and molecular phylogeny of the genus Okanagana, once thought to be close relatives of periodical cicadas but now known to be much more distantly related.

I enjoy engaging people about biology, sharing my knowledge, and helping people think about biology in new ways.