I have designed an interdisciplinary research program
that seeks to understand the means by which we can quantitatively assess and
predict patterns of behavior. More specifically, I address questions of the
proximate cues that direct behavior. I work with several species of fish at one
end of the spectrum and with humans on the other end. While the nature of the
questions that I address differ depending on the subject (fish or humans), the
methods I use are very similar and it is this similarity in approach that makes
my research unique. With respect to fishes, my research focuses on behavior,
sexual selection, and how habitat variation can affect the evolution of
behavior. I am studying how visual factors guide mate choice and affect life
history in a group of Lake Malawi cichlids. I am also interested in how
variation in the light environment affects life history. With respect to humans,
I am particularly
interested
in the link between learning and behavior. My goal is to identify the key
predictors that affect learner outcome and ultimately behavioral change in
environmental education and citizen science programs. As a scientist and
educator, I feel it important to provide students and community members with the
tools that enable scientific understanding and the active participation in the
stewardship of natural resources.
