After a whirlwind 3 months in the field with our fantastic crew, we sampled populations of the beautiful tailed frog species, Ascaphus montanus and truei, across their range from northern California to northern British Columbia. We experimentally tested thermal tolerance (CTmin and CTmax), thermal performance, and gathered tissue for genomic analyses from over 200 individuals. None of this would have been possible without our stellar, hard working crew Jon Suh, Dalton Oliver, and Leighton King! We are also deeply grateful to all our collaborators in each state and in Vancouver, BC. 

I was selected to be a SoGES Sustainability Leadership Fellow for 2016-2017! The fellowship is modeled after the Leopold Leadership Program to enhance communication skills among scientists whose research pertains to sustainability, climate change, conservation, and other important global issues. This program is also particularly aimed at scientists who wish to bridge the immense gap between scientific research and public understanding of science.   

I will begin a new (side) project with my co-advisor, Chris Funk, looking at variation in thermal adaptation and genomic architecture in tailed frogs (Ascaphus spp.) along their entire known distributional range, from northern California to northern British Columbia. I start fieldwork with my awesome crew on June 25th! If you have a PhD and are interested in this study, Chris is looking for a new genomics post-doc for this project -
(click here for more information).

I'll be attending the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology meeting in Portland from Jan 3-9, to kick off the new year. I will be giving a talk about my findings on testing Daniel Janzen's 'Mountain Passes Hypothesis' by looking at patterns of thermal optima in temperate and tropical mayflies across elevation. Come check it out on Tuesday, Jan 5th at 2:30pm!

I just won the CSU College of Natural Sciences "Top Scholars Award" for my poster presentation at the Graduate Student Showcase! Thanks to the Ghalambor lab for critiques on my presentation, to the judges, and to the College of Natural Sciences.