Congratulations to Graduate Student Kerry McGowan for receiving the Exceptional Service award from the School of Biological Sciences. Kerry has gone above and beyond in her contributions to the department!
Dr. Joanna Kelley’s ongoing research into the genetic changes occurring during grizzly bear hibernation is featured in Washington State Magazine’s spring issue! The article also discusses the research of collaborators Dr. Heiko Jansen and Dr. Charles Robbins. Read the full article here.
Ellie recently presented her grizzly bear research at the PacBio Plant and Animal Genomics Day. Congratulations, Ellie!
Kerry was awarded a 2022 NASA Space Grant Fellowship to study evolutionary rate divergence in poeciliid fishes. Congratulations, Kerry!
The Kelley lab recently worked with Neill Public Library to host a bird feeder activity for K-12 youth. Attendees made a bird feeder to take home and hang in their backyard to participate in the 2022 Great Backyard Bird Count. The Backyard Bird Count is a fun citizen science opportunity to record bird sightings from February 18-21 (more info here). If you would like to construct your own bird feeder out of popsicle sticks, glue, and string to participate in the count, find instructions here, a list of Palouse-specific birds here, and a printable observation journal here. Happy birding!
Blair was recently awarded a National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Post-doctoral Fellowship to study the genomic basis of Arctic adaptation in polar bears. His project will use functional and population genomic data to understand the role of regulatory sequence evolution in facilitating rapid adaptation to the Arctic. Read more here. Congratulations, Blair!
Ellie Armstrong presented her talk entitled “The genomics of the United States’ captive tiger population” as part of Dovetail Genomics and Revive & Restore’s Conservation Genomics Summit 2021. There, she discussed how an improved tiger reference genome she assembled using Dovetail’s technologies allowed for better population genomic insights concerning the ancestry and diversity of tigers in the US. Great job, Ellie!
Joanna was selected for a Mid-Career Faculty Achievement Award through WSU’s College of Arts and Sciences. She is recognized for her work in evolutionary and population genomics, with a successful funding track record and national recognition for her research. Congratulations, Joanna!! See the full award announcement here.
Ellie and Joanna are working with Dovetail Genomics and the conservation organization Revive & Restore to sequence the genome of a female wolverine named Laura. Wolverine populations have decreased in recent years but twice failed to be listed by the Endangered Species Act. Sequencing a high-quality reference genome will provide much needed genomic resources to inform conservation efforts for this enigmatic species. Read more here.
Tait Algayer will present her poster, “The plasticity of estuarine arthropods: how arthropods from various biomes respond to elevated CO2 levels” at the CERF 2021 conference in November! Congratulations, Tait!