Naturalist, Explorer, Scientist, Educator
about Me
My research explores the evolutionary history of fishes. I am the principle investigator of a lab that does research on biodiversity, biogeography, phylogenomics and taxonomy. I have described 15 new species of fishes from almost as many countries; I've been lucky enough to have worked in more than 35 countries doing natural history research. My lab has included a number of postdocs and graduate students from various backgrounds and countries; building scientific infrastructure in the places I work is an important goal of my research.
I've been very privileged to have worked with great colleagues at LSU and elsewhere. I've been a professor in Biological Sciences (teaching Evolution and Ichthyology) and a Curator of Fishes at the Museum of Natural Science at LSU for the last fifteen years. In that time I also served as President for the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (2023), and as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (2016-2017). I've been honored to be elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2018), and I was recently on sabbatical as a Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Ottawa.
Public science outreach is also an important component of my work. I am a Senior Fellow at TED and a National Geographic Certified Educator; I’ve given many talks and workshops to my academic colleagues and to the general public. My goal in that work is to help more people understand the importance of evolution and natural history research and to expand and diversify the kinds of people interested in doing science.
