Postdoctoral Researcher

I completed my PhD with Dr. Brent Sinclair back home in Canada where I studied the physiological and molecular mechanisms of diapause and cold tolerance in the global pest, the Colorado potato beetle. During my many years in the Sinclair lab I developed a keen interest in all things winter and metabolism, and am excited to bring my enthusiasm for both into the Williams lab. Here, I hope to answer some questions about the mechanisms driving wing polymorphisms in Gryllus crickets, and become the new resident lab mitochondriac.

Postdoctoral Researcher

I am interested in the neuroendocrine underpinnings of female reproduction, with a goal of understanding how the brain coordinates state-dependent changes. Earlier in my career I explored the genetic architecture of female mate choice (Amanda Moehring, Canada), neuronal control of female post-mating behaviors (Jean-Christophe Billeter, The Netherlands), and the neural circuitry that integrates reproductive state with nutritional homeostasis (Kristin Scott, USA). In the Williams lab, I am exploring the neuroendocrine mechanisms that underlie the tradeoff of reproduction and dispersal in the polymorphisms of female Gryllus crickets.

Postdoctoral Researcher

I use interdisciplinary approaches to answer questions about animals’ ecology, especially in the context of global climate change and adaptation to extreme and changing conditions. I integrate information from all levels of biological organization: from the molecular and physiological level, up to phenotypic outcomes for individuals, and how those outcomes shape population dynamics. My PhD work at the University of Greifswald in Germany integrated genomics, metabolomics, physiology and microbiology to investigate the success of the European wasp spider, Argiope bruennichi, in rapidly colonizing new habitats in northern Europe. In my postdoc research, collaborating with PIs at UC Berkeley, UW Seattle, and UW Madison, I am studying how survival and fecundity constraints vary with elevation in montane grasshoppers along a transect in the Rocky Mountains. Soon, I will begin my own project funded by the National Science Foundation’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology program, expanding upon my work on the grasshoppers.

PhD Candidate

I'm really interested in understanding how environmental factors impact an individuals' life history strategy and how this strategy in turn impacts their performance in future environments. In the Williams lab I'm using the wing polymorphism in Gryllus crickets as a model to tease apart this interaction between the environment and life history to potentially create a more generalizable approach to predicting species' responses to climate change.

PhD Student

My research interest lie in understanding how climate change affects an individual’s energy reserves across its life cycle. As a PhD Student in the Williams Lab, I am working on subalpine grasshoppers (Melanoplus boulderensis and Melanoplus sanguinipes) along the elevational gradient of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I completed my undergraduate degree at UCSB, where I double majored in Ecology and Evolution and Environmental Studies. As a South Asian woman, I understand the barriers that BIPOC face in STEM and want to make science inviting and accessible for all communities.

Lab Manager

My research interests are the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that are responsible for physiological polymorphisms in insects, specifically wing length dimorphism in Gryllus crickets. I previously worked as a Lab Technician the University of Southern California, in the Crump Lab, a craniofacial development lab, which informed my research interests. I was a part of the NSF-funded Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) during my undergraduate education. I seek to pay forward the support and encouragement that I was given to others, making scientific research opportunities more equitable for all. I am also a mediocre crocheter and avid doodler.

IT/Stats/R support

I help and advise the group with IT, statistics, and R. I have spent over a decade IT freelancing to fund my studies during high school and at the University of Basel. I also love coding, especially in R. My expertise includes GLMMs, dimension reduction, clustering, data visualization and implementation of new methods in R.

I am also currently finishing my PhD in Germany at the University of Greifswald in Applied Zoology and Nature Conservation where I research northwards range expansion in the protected lesser horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros). I use non-invasive biomonitoring including fecal based genetic capture mark recapture, passive acoustic/video monitoring and count data to study movement, population structure and demography through time and space, from population to individual level.