I am interested in the evolution of biological diversity. Research in my lab focuses on the evolution of fishes, including a diverse array of both living and fossil taxa, including cichlids, needlefishes and their relatives, danios (including zebrafish), swordtails, and basal actinopterygian (rayfinned) fishes. Conceptually, research in my lab has addressed three broad, overlapping areas: (1) speciation, through study of the evolution of closely-related complexes of species, (2) the macroevolutionary (phylogenetic, stratigraphic) fate of phenotypic variation, and (3) the generation of phenotypic variation.

I teach Biology of Fishes and an Advanced Evolution Course, both to a mix of undergraduates and graduate students. I also give a variety of guest lectures having to do with fishes, paleobiology, phylogeny and evolutionary developmental biology in several courses (e.g. Vertebrate Biology, Paleobiology, Development & Evolution and the graduate core course in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)