My research interests have centered around deciphering the genealogical relationships and evolutionary histories among members of several different insect lineages:
scorpionflies (Mecoptera: Panorpidae / Panorpodidae),
ledrine leafhoppers (Homoptera: Cicadellidae: Ledrinae), and, currently,
owlflies (Neuroptera: Ascalaphidae: Haplogleniinae). My dissertation research on the haplogleniinae owlflies comprises a species-level revision of the subfamily and an investigation, using morphological and molecular data, of the phylogenetic relationships between and character evolution within two lineages of the Myrmeontoidea, the families Ascalaphidae and Myrmeleontidae (antlions).
Before beginning my current work at
Texas A&M University with
Dr. John D. Oswald, I had the opportunity to work with
Dr. Lewis L. Deitz, emeritus professor at
North Carolina State University,
on a genus-level revision of the ledrine leafhoppers, using morphological data. Prior to that, I worked with
Dr. Michael F. Whiting at
Brigham Young University
to infer a phylogeny of the panorpid scorpionflies via analysis of a large molecular dataset.
More information on my work can be found by following the tab links above.