Author Archives: Kevin

Darwin’s finches are a classic example of adaptive radiation, but few studies have attempted to reconstruct the biogeographic origins of Darwin’s finches. Burns lab MS student Erik Funk studied this question in the third chapter of his thesis which was … Continue reading →

Congratulations to Amelia Demery who successfully defended her MS thesis last week. Her research involved looking at the role morphology plays in tanager diversification. Amelia will begin working on her PhD at Cornell University this fall. We will miss her … Continue reading →

The Burns lab had a great time at last month’s meeting of the American Ornithological Society. Four presentations had Burns lab members as authors. Amelia and Rosalyn presented parts of their MS theses, and Nick presented work he performed in … Continue reading →

The Burns lab welcomes new MS student Nick Vinciguerra. Nick received his Bachelor of Arts in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Colorado Boulder. After graduating, Nick worked at the Institute of Arctic Biology in Alaska, the Smithsonian Tropical … Continue reading →

The Burns lab was well represented at the recent American Ornithological Society meetings, which were held this year at Michigan State University this year. Five past and present Burns lab members were in attendance. Erik received an AOS travel award … Continue reading →

Burns lab members past and present will be well represented at this week’s upcoming American Ornithological Society Meeting in East Lansing, Michigan. Here is a list of presentations by both former and current Burns lab members (in bold): Thursday,  August 3rd; 1:45 … Continue reading →

The AOS checklist supplement for 2017 has recently been published. The paper can be downloaded here and the comments of committee members can be found here. This paper is is the result of work by the AOS Classification Committee, of … Continue reading →

The Burns lab recently received a 3-year grant from the National Science Foundation to study two closely related hummingbirds, the Rufous and the Allen’s Hummingbirds. The grant was awarded in collaboration with Chris Clark and Alan Brelsford, both at the … Continue reading →

Rosalyn Price-Waldman, a Burns lab MS student, was recently awarded a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. These awards provide three years of support for graduate education and are given to annually to outstanding students who are pursuing graduate degrees in … Continue reading →

Congratulations to Erik Funk who successfully defended his MS thesis. His research involved using indices of phylogenetic diversity for conservation planning, focusing on tanagers and their relatives in a large clade known as Emberizoidea (9-primaried oscines). Erik will begin working … Continue reading →