Miller Lab Fall 2019 - 2020
Christine W. Miller
cwmiller@ufl.edu
Dr. Miller is an Associate Professor in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Organismal Biology and Ecology from the University of Montana in 2007. Dr. Miller works on the evolution of morphology and behavior, particularly in the field of sexual selection. She uses insects to understand the fundamentals of why animals do what they do and are shaped the way they are shaped. In the past several years, Dr. Miller has received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the University of Florida College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Undergraduate Teacher of the Year Award, the national Excellence in College and University Teaching Award from the USDA, and she was recognized as an University of Florida Term Professor in both 2016 and 2019, an honor based on recent accomplishments. Download CV
cwmiller@ufl.edu
Dr. Miller is an Associate Professor in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She earned a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Organismal Biology and Ecology from the University of Montana in 2007. Dr. Miller works on the evolution of morphology and behavior, particularly in the field of sexual selection. She uses insects to understand the fundamentals of why animals do what they do and are shaped the way they are shaped. In the past several years, Dr. Miller has received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the University of Florida College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Undergraduate Teacher of the Year Award, the national Excellence in College and University Teaching Award from the USDA, and she was recognized as an University of Florida Term Professor in both 2016 and 2019, an honor based on recent accomplishments. Download CV
Ginny Greenway
Ginny Greenway received a degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Oxford in 2013, before undertaking a PhD at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Whilst there, she focused on the causes and evolutionary consequences of high rates of reproductive failure in lygaeid seed bugs. She joined the Miller Lab in 2017, and over the course of her postdoc she has advanced our understanding of the evolution of testes, reproductive interference, and polyandry. In 2020 Ginny begins projects on insect biomechanics.
Benjamin Jarrett
Ben started at Durham University for his BSc in Zoology and then moved swiftly into studying insects with a MSc in Entomology from Imperial College London. His PhD at the University of Cambridge focused on the role of parental care in driving evolutionary change. He followed his PhD with a postdoc at Michigan State University exploring adaptation of parasitoid wasps to novel hosts. Ben joined the Miller Lab in 2020 with funding from the Human Frontiers Science Program where he will be investigating how coreids adapt to the social environment (e.g. male-male competition) and how this influences host plant use.
Sam Zlotnik
Sam completed their M.S. at Purdue University in 2018 and joined us immediately thereafter as a Ph.D. student. Sam is working on phenotypic plasticity and evolution in the mouthparts of insects. Their work will help us understand, for example, how some invasive insect species are able to make use of a wide variety of plant species during the processes of invasion.
James Boothroyd
James completed his B.S. at Northern Arizona University in 2017 and joined us as a Ph.D. student in the fall of 2020. James has a great interest in invertebrate biology and behavior, especially as it relates to evolution and sexual selection. In the Miller Lab James is working on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity in testes and weapons. He balances his demanding research schedule with leadership, serving as the Supervisory TA for the Principles of Entomology laboratory sections, and teaching of his own laboratory section.
Steven Smit
Steve earned his B.S. at the University of Michigan in 2018 with a major in ecology and evolutionary biology and a minor in applied statistics. He joined us as a M.S. student in the fall of 2020. Steve is working on the evolution of trade-offs among life-history and locomotory traits in females for his M.S. thesis. Steve is also contributing to a project using experimental evolution to understand the evolution of phenotypic plasticity.
Caroline Hurd
Caroline completed her B.S. at the University of Michigan in 2018 and joined us as a research technician/research coordinator in the fall of 2020. Caroline is helping to coordinate a project on experimental evolution, is mentoring two interns on science communication and independent projects, and otherwise helps to make sure the lab is a positive, productive, and enriching place to be!