Participants

Joanna Masel is a mathematical modeler and data scientist whose researches foundational questions about how evolution works. These include the population genetic basis for evolvability, applications of evolvability theories to the de novo birth of genes from junk DNA, and subsequent directionality in protein evolution. They also include the puzzle of how populations withstand high rates of deleterious mutation, and the search for general principles to organize the enormous variety of adaptations/goals we observe in nature and tension among them. As well as evolutionary biology, she also dabbles in many other fields from biochemistry to education to economics, and most recently, pandemic tech.

Fiona McCann (she/her/hers) is a second year graduate student in the Applied Math PhD program at the University of Arizona. She received her Bachelor's in Science in Applied Math with a secondary major in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is interested in new ways that math modeling can affect current research within psychology/psychiatry, biology, and ecology. With past research in modeling bipolar disorder, empathy, and cannibalism, Fiona's current research regards population dynamics via a novel approach for the lottery model.

I am a second year applied math PhD student at the University of Arizona, currently working in Dr. Joanna Masel's lab. I am primarily interested in ecology, evolution, and population genetics. My past research includes topics such as protein evolution, and the evolution of multicellularity.