Roger E. Carpenter & Theodore J. Cohn

Rick Prum, Ph.D.
Yale University
http://prumlab.yale.edu/

The Evolution of Beauty
The Carpenter-Cohn Lecture for 2017 will be given by Dr. Rick Prum of Yale University. Dr. Prum is the author of a new book, The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World – and Us, that challenges conventional ideas about sexual selection. His research interests are broad and include behavioral evolution, feather evolution and development, mate choice, sexual conflict, aesthetic evolution, and the theropod dinosaur origin of birds, among other topics. Honors and awards he has received include a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Fulbright Scholar Award. Please join us for an exciting and informative talk on Dr. Prum’s research!

Wayne Maddison, Ph.D.

Hopi Hoekstra, Ph.D.

Professor of Zoology in the Departments of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Curator of Mammals in the Museum of Comparative Biology at Harvard

Digging for genes that affect behavior
The Carpenter-Cohn Lecture for 2015 will be given by Dr. Hopi Hoekstra of Harvard University. Dr. Hoekstra is the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Departments of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular and Cellular Biology, and the Curator of Mammals in the Museum of Comparative Biology at Harvard. She received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley and earned her Ph.D. in Zoology at the University of Washington. After completing her degree, she was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of Arizona and has been at Harvard since 2007. She is broadly interested in the genetics of adaptation and speciation in vertebrates. Her integrative research program combines molecular techniques (ranging from next-gen sequencing and transcriptomics to cell-based pharmacological assays and in vivo viral vectors), population-genetic tests, classical genetic crosses, lab-based behavioral assays, and field-based experiments. This interdisciplinary approach has lead to several important breakthroughs in understanding the genetics underlying adaptive traits in wild populations.

Pamela Soltis, Ph.D.
Curator of the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics at the Museum

Genome Duplication and the Diversification of Flowering Plants
The Carpenter-Cohn Lecture for 2014 will be given by Dr. Pamela Soltis, of the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida. Dr. Soltis is curator of the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolutionary Genetics at the Museum. Her research interests include the molecular systematics of plants (especially angiosperms), polyploid evolution and its consequences, the uses of museum specimen data in biodiversity research, comparative phylogeography, especially of the southeastern USA and the Pacific Northwest, and conservation genetics of rare plant species. She has also contributed to several outreach projects, including development of educational websites for the Tree of Life and the diversity of flowers, development of educational videos on polyploidy and its significance and on the rain forest of New Caledonia and its unusual flora, participation in the Museum’s Earth Day celebrations, and consultant to Lincoln Middle School science teachers for development of a “paleobotany garden” and molecular biology. She teaches or co-teaches courses in Plant Taxonomy, Principles of Systematics, Molecular Systematics, and the Phylogenetics Journal Club at the University of Florida. Dr. Soltis is an author of innumerable scientific papers in journals such as the American Journal of Botany, International Journal of Plant Sciences, Systematic Biology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science, and Nature. She received a “Centennial Award” from The Botanical Society of America in 2006 for outstanding service to the plant sciences and the Society, a Merit Award, the BSA’s highest honor, in 2010, and was president of that society from 2007-2008. Dr. Soltis is widely known in her field for her innovative work, scientific insight, outstanding productivity, and public service. We are very pleased to have her as our Carpenter-Cohn lecturer for 2014.

Scott Edwards, Ph.D.
Harvard University

Genomes, feathers and flight: comparative genomics of birds and other reptiles
The Roger Carpenter Lecture for 2013 will be given by Dr. Scott Edwards, of the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. Dr. Edwards studies the evolutionary biology of birds. He has worked on the evolution of genes involved with disease resistance in wild birds, which play a role in parasite resistance, plumage color variation, and mate choice. He has also studied bird immunogenetics and population genetics. His current major interests include multilocus phylogeography and speciation in birds; genome evolution during the transition from reptiles to birds; host-pathogen interactions (such as the house finch-Mycoplasma epizootic), and the evolutionary consequences of disease outbreaks. In addition, he is actively involved in statistical models for inferring multilocus phylogenies and historical demography. Dr. Edwards has been on the editorial boards of several academic societies, including the Journal of Molecular Evolution , Evolution, American Zoologist (now Integrative and Comparative Biology), Systematic Biology, Molecular Biology, and Evolution and Conservation Genetics. He has served on the Council of the American Genetic Association and was AGA President in 2011. In 2012 he was elected President of the Society for the Study of Evolution, where he works to expand the Society’s mission in research and outreach, through its annual meeting and its journal, Evolution. He has served on several NSF panels and on the National Geographic’s Committee for Research & Exploration from 2001-2009.

Mimi Koehl, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley

Swimming in turbulent waves: How do tiny marine larvae settle in the right place?
The Roger Carpenter Lecture for 2012 will be given by Dr. Mimi Koehl, of the Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Koehl studies the physics of how organisms interact with their environments, focusing on issues such as how microscopic creatures swim and capture their food in turbulent ambient flow, how wave-battered marine plants and animals avoid being washed away, and how olfactory antennae catch odors from the water or air moving around them. She earned her Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University, and did postdoctoral work at Friday Harbor Laboratories (University of Washington) and in England (University of York). Professor Koehl’s awards include a Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur “genius grant”, the John Martin Award (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, for “for research that created a paradigm shift in an area of aquatic sciences”), the Borelli Award (American Society of Biomechanics, for “outstanding career accomplishment”), the Rachel Carson Award (American Geophysical Union), and the Muybridge Award (International Society of Biomechanics “highest honor”). She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Emilia Martins, Ph.D.
Indiana University

Behavioral Syndromes & the Comparative Method: Using phylogenies to infer adaptation
The Roger Carpenter Lecture for 2010 will be given by Dr. Emilia Martins, of the Department of Biology, Indiana University. Dr. Martins is a comparative biologist who uses phylogenies to infer how animal signals and social behavior have evolved. She has studied lizards and fish from around the world, using a combination of field observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical approaches to understand how their systems of communication have been shaped by their physical and social habitats. Along the way, she has developed statistical methods and software that allow others working on different comparative questions to infer evolutionary patterns through comparisons of living species.

Michael Donoghue, Ph.D.
G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University

The Tree of Life, Darwin, and the (Past and) Future of Biodiversity
Dr. Michael Donoghue is G. Evelyn Hutchinson Professor Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University. Michael is a comparative biologist with a broad research focus on understanding plant diversity, phylogeny, and evolution. Major questions of interest include methods for assessing the direction of evolution, analysis of large data sets, character evolution, and comparative methods. He has also been doing fieldwork in China over the last few years which is part of a study of the biogeography of plant communities in the Northern hemisphere.

Jonathan Losos, Ph.D.
Harvard University

“Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Ecology and Adaptive Radiation of Anoles”
Dr. Jonathan Losos, Department of Organismal and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, is a comparative biologist with a research focus on the behavioral and evolutionary ecology of lizards. Major questions concern how lizards interact with their environment and how lizard clades have diversified evolutionarily. His approach involves the integration of behavioral, ecological, functional morphological, and phylogenetic studies. A major focus has been the evolutionary radiation of Caribbean Anolis lizards, but other lizard radiations are also being studied.

Adam Summers, Ph.D.

Therese Markow, Ph.D.

Brian McNab, Ph.D.
University of Florida

“When Less is More: Vertebrate Adaptations to Island Life”

Daniel E. Crocker, Ph.D.
Sonoma State University

Raymond Huey, Ph.D.
University of Washington
http://faculty.washington.edu/hueyrb

“Success and Death in Thin Air: Natural Selection on Himalayan Mountaineers”

Karl J. Niklas, Ph.D.
Cornell University

“The Green Tapestry of Life: Plant Evolution and the Invasion of Land”

Gerald Kooyman, Ph.D.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography

“Emperor Penguins: Going for the Gold of Extreme Adaptations:Diving, Flying, and Fasting”

Terrie Williams, Ph.D.
University of California, Santa Cruz

“The Price of Speed. Athletic Secrets from Diving Dolphins and Bouncing Dogs”

Jeffrey Graham, Ph.D.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography

“Tuna Tunes: Harmony, rhythm, tempo, and variations on themes in Nature’s scombrid sonata”

Robert J. Full, Ph.D.
University of California, Berkeley

“Biological Inspiration for the Design of Many-Legged Locomotors”

Ken Dial, Ph.D.
University of Montana

“An Inside Look at How Birds Fly”

Hal Mooney, Ph.D.
Stanford University

“Biotic Systems in a High CO2 World”

Bill Dawson, Ph.D.
University of Michigan

“Experimental Approaches to Natural History”