Daniel Spalink is EEB’s newest Core Faculty member and an Assistant Professor of Plant Systematics in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at Texas A&M University and Director of the S.M. Tracy Herbarium (TAES).

Daniel received his Ph.D. from the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied the ecological and biogeographical diversification of the sedge family, Cyperaceae. He then conducted a postdoc at UW-Madison, where he studied the biogeography and diversification of the orchid family (Orchidaceae) and the spatial structure of phylogenetic diversity in the Wisconsin flora. Before joining the faculty at Texas A&M University, Daniel conducted a second postdoc at the University of Utah, where he studied the genomic structure of phylogenetic discordance in the pepper tribe, Capsiceae.

Welcome Daniel!

Student Spotlight:  Leila Siciliano-Martina is a third year PhD student interested in evolutionary changes in the morphology of mammal species due to anthropogenic drivers. She has a masters degree in zoology from Michigan State University, where she studied maternal relationships and stress behaviors in captive giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis).

Faculty Spotlight:  Kira Delmore joined the faculty of Biology in September 2018 and is a new core faculty member of EEB. Dr. Delmore obtained her BSCH, MA and PhD at universities in Canada before spending 3 years as a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in northern Germany. Her research is motivated by understanding where diversity originated in the natural world and how it is maintained. She is inspired by the varied ways in which hybrid zones can be used to understand this topic.