There are many past and present members of our lab, each pursuing independent research. These are the people who
make the lab.
Click on their names to be directed to their personal home pages and learn more about their research.
Current Members
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Paul Barber: El jefe.
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Craig Starger: Craig Starger studies the population connectivity and conservation genetics of scleractinian corals. He finished his Ph.D. at Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History in the lab of Andrew Baker. In January 2008, Craig joined the lab as a postdoctoral fellow to help lead PIRE grant activities in the Philippines and Indonesia. |
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Timery DeBoer : Timery is presently comparing patterns of genetic connectivity of giant clams (Tridacna spp.) throughout the Indonesian Archipelago. She is developing a dissertation focused on understanding the genomic consequences of selection at different life stages and across geography. Timery has extensive field experience and was a zoologist at The Nature Conservancy and a biological constultant prior to joining BU. She completed her Masters degree at UCSD studying behavior of red-faced warblers in Arizona. |
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Joshua Drew : Josh is interested in connectivity and conservation of marine fishes. His thesis research is focused on how marine populations of the Serranidae (groupers) are connected over evolutionary and ecological time scales, and the barriers restrict connectivity and lead to speciation. Josh is interested in the use of traditional ecological knowledge in marine conservation, and using that knowledge to document shifting baselines in marine resources. He got an M.S. SUNY Albany on "Marine reserves as a fisheries management alternative for the Bahamas" before working at WCS. |
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Elizabeth Jones : Elizabeth joined the lab as a student in 2006 after several years of running the lab as a technician. She is interested in the application of fine-scale poplulation genetics to the understanding the evolution and conservation of marine populations. In 2006 she defended her M.S. at the College of Charleston, focuing on dipsersal and evolution of Atlantic amphipods. |
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Tim Werner: Tim’s research interest is in combining morphological and molecular approaches to resolve questions in marine systematics and biogeography, with a focus on holothurians. He is also active in applying science to real world challenges, currently as a research director with the New England Aquarium [www.neaq.org] where he manages a team from the engineering, marine science, and fishing industry sectors engaged in the research and development of methods to reduce fisheries bycatch, and previously as a senior director at Conservation International (CI), an environmental non-profit organization, where he developed and managed programs in the South Pacific and for marine ecosystems. Tim holds a M.S. in Marine Zoology from University of Maryland, and a M.A. in Business Management from Stanford University. tbwerner@comcast.net |
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Sarah Boyce: Sarah (don't forget the h) is a curatorial assistant in the the entomology department of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard. However, she is a crustacean biologist at heart, having studied the phylogenetics of calappid crabs as a masters student at Florida State University. At BU, Sarah worked on numerous projects as a Senior Research Technician, including the connectivity of Caribbean stomatopods, dispersal of Emerita sand crabs along the Pacific Coast, morphological and genetic identification of Indo-Pacific stomatopod larvae, and the used of nuclear markers in the phylogenetics of stomatopods. |
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Benita Chick: A graduate of Cornell University, Benita conducted a masters thesis studying the phylogeography of of sea cucumbers (holothurian) in Indonesia, where sea cucumbers are being severely overfished. She completed her thesis in 2007. She is presently working for Outward Bound in Hong Kong while she plans her next career move.
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Eric Crandall : Eric is interested in understanding how populations of marine species are genetically and demographically connected by the dispersal of planktonic larvae. He is utilizing the unique and vastly different habitat constraints within the neritid family of snails to investigate the effect of stepping stones of available habitat (e.g. marine reserves) on marine population connectivity. Eric finished his Ph.D. in December 2007 and is presently a postdoctoral fellow with Kent Carpenter at Old Dominion University |
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Devin Drown: Devin is now a graduate student at Washington State University in the laboratory of Mark Dybdahl and is studying coevolution of hosts and parasites. During his tenure as a Senior Research Technician in the Barber Lab, Devin developed and employed microsatellite markers in the study of the mating system of the coral reef fish, Abudefduf sordidus. Devin also pursued a projects looking at the genetic effects of size selective mortality in the coral reef fish Neopomocentrus filamentosus, and dispersal of the coral reef fish Plectroglyphidodon imparipennis between Johnston Atoll and the Hawaiian Islands. ddrown@bu.edu |
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Megan Mach: A graduate of the University of Washington, Megan finished her masters thesis in 2007 examining patterns of gene flow and regional differenation in populations of Menidia menidia along the eastern seaboard. She is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Brittish Columbia.
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Shinta Pardede: Shinta joined the lab from Indonesia on a fellowship from the Wildlife Conservation Society where she worked before joining the lab. She is especially interested in management and conservation of marine resources in Indonesia and conducted her thesis examining the fisheries biology, evolution, and genetic connectivity in fusiliers. She has returned to Indonesia where she works for WCS.
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| Adjunct Lab Members: There are many students who have worked in the lab, but are members of other lab groups. We actively support students who wish to incorporate molecular tools into their research, regardless of lab affiliation. | |
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Heidi Fisher:Heidi studied the effects of toxins on chemical communication and mate choice in aquatic ecosystem. Her work focused on a hybrid zone in Mexican swordtails, and is employing a spectrum of behavioral and genetic methods to understanding the breakdown of species boundaries in this system. She finshed her Ph.D. in 2006 under Gil Rosenthal and is presently doing a postdoc with Hopi Hoestra at Harvard University. |
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Beth Neeley: Beth studied the evolution of visual communication systems in Neotropical reef fishes. Her research used phylogenetics to frame questions about the adaptive response of body color patterns and visual sensitivities to environmental characteristics. She is a former member of the Rosenthal Lab.
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Mindy Richlen: Mindy studied genetic variation in Gambierdiscus toxicus, which is a toxin-producing dinoflagellate responsible for ciguatera fish poisoning. For her thesis she investigated the global distribution of toxic and non-toxic isolates of G. toxicus in order to determine if and how the genetic variability of G. toxicus relates to the biogeographic pattern of ciguatera incidence. A former member of the Lobel Lab, she is presently a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
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Jason Philibotte: Jason was focused on the connectivity of reef fish populations in Hawaii and central Pacific Atolls in the context of marine conservation and MPA siting and design. He is employing physical oceanographic models, larval otolith analyses, and genetics to explore the potential and realized dispersal of reef fish. Following BU, he worked for the Community Conservation Network in Hawaii and is now working for NOAA. He was a member of the Lobel Lab.
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