People

Principal investigator: Dave Hall

Dave came to UGA in the summer of 2006 from the University of Texas at Austin where he was a Senior Lecturer in biological sciences.  As a teaching faculty, he taught a variety of courses, ranging from introductory biology to ornithology, to over 6000 students.  He has very broad interests and is comfortable talking about experimental evolution in yeast, determinants of matrices, how to distinguish venomous and non-venomous snakes and setting the timing advance and point gap on older cars.   His primary interests are in all things genetic, with a primary emphasis on genetics at the population level.

 Dave has been married for ten years to Kathrin Stanger-Hall, with whom he collaborated (genetically) to produce an F1 consisting of Emily Rose and Johanna Lily.  Dave and Kathrin also collaborate (scientifically) on some of the genetic aspects of Kathrin’s work on signal evolution in fireflies. 

 
Undergraduate students 

Allison: Allison started in the lab at the end of her Freshman year, in the Summer of 2008.  She is currently working on the epistasis and chromosome evolution projects. 

Lauri:  (coming soon)

Alumni:

Audrey, lab technician. After graduating from the University of Texas in May 2006, Audrey joined the lab in the summer of 2006 and left in the summer of 2008.  Audrey worked on essentially all of the yeast projects in the lab.  She is currently working as a naturalist in Costa Rica.  She plans to maybe go to graduate school for museum studies or library science. Maybe. She would like to either design exhibits for the American Museum of Natural History or raise like 10 kids on a farm with lots of goats and vegetables. Audrey’s likes include swimming (for fun not fitness), tv (when she can get it), bicycles, dance parties, chocolate, and the outdoors. Her dislikes include indoor plant pests, overly air-conditioned buildings, pickles, and talking politics.

Kora, lab technician. Kora graduated from the University of Kansas in 2007, and joined the lab in the spring of 2008 and left in the spring of 2009. Kora worked primarily on the molecular evolution project in fireflies. She is currently working as a lab technician at Emory University in Atlanta and she plans to go to graduate school or become a science teacher. Her primary interests include decorating her house, painting, SCUBA diving, marine invertebrates, volvox, pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

Sara, undergrad:  Sara started in the lab at the end of her Junior year, in the Summer of 2008 and continued until July of 2009.  She worked primarily on the epistasis project.  Starting Fall 2009 she will begin medical school at Mercer in Macon, GA.

 Kris, undergrad: Kris worked in the lab at the end of her Junior year, in the Summer of 2008.  She worked on firefly communities throughout Georgia.  She plans to go to graduate school in marine biology after she graduates.

Ben, undergrad: Ben worked in the lab from Spring 2007 through Spring 2008.  Ben worked primarily on the  molecular evolution project in fireflies.  Ben began medical school at the Medical College of Georgia in the Fall of 2008.

 
Matt, undergrad: Matt worked in the lab from the summer of 2007 through the Spring of 2008.  Matt did his honors thesis in our lab.  His project examined epistasis in yeast.  He presented his results at the 2008 meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution in Minneapolis.  He started medical school at Emory University in the Fall of 2008.

Jessica, undergrad:  Jessica worked in the lab in the Fall of 2007 and Spring of 2008.  She  helped with a variety of projects.  She plans to go to graduate school or medical school in the Fall of 2010.

 
Celine, undergrad: Celine was a Genetics major who joined the lab in Fall 2006.  One of the “dissecting duo”, she stayed with the lab through the spring of 2007.   

Stacey, undergrad: Stacey was a Genetics major who joined the lab in the fall of 2006.  One of the “dissecting duo”. Stacey did an enormous number of dissections and also counted a massive number of sporulation cultures.  Stacey remained with the lab through the summer of 2007 and then began pharmacy school at the University of Georgia in the Fall of 2007.

Will, undergrad: Will worked in the lab during the summer of 2007.  His primary project involved characterizing firefly communities in and around Athens.