News

Congratulations to Juliana for receiving the Distinguished Teaching Fellowship! This fellowship will allow Juliana to develop and teach an upper-level course on global change biology for undergraduates.

Graduate students Erin Scott and Louis Bubrig, plus undergraduates Sophia Kuzminski, Dareen Aloudeh, and Schubin Chon graduated this weekend!

Juliana received funding from the Raven Society to support her field work at Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, where she researches the evolution and ecology of plant-pathogen interactions along elevational gradients.

Congratulations Eli Frazier on earning a Research and Travel Grant to support his field work on flax and flax rust at Rocky Mountain Biological Lab this summer!

Congratulations to Kendall Guddy on earning a Harrison Award to fund her work in the lab this summer! She’ll be helping out with an experimental selection project tracking the joint evolution of avoidance and resistance and looking into the genetic basis of avoidance.

This student will be mentored by Irish Amundson, a PhD student in the lab. Irish studies the effects of transmission traits on epidemic patterns. Her projects involve experimental manipulation of the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and its natural parasites.

We are seeking a work-study eligible student able to commit around 10 hours per week for work-study pay. Working time will be spent attending weekly lab meetings, reading and discussing foundational papers, learning basic lab skills, assisting with project completion, and completing independent lab tasks. We value accountability, integrity, and communication. Strong candidates will have good time management skills and an interest in evolution, ecology, or parasites. Students belonging to communities historically underrepresented in the sciences are especially encouraged to apply.

If you are interested, check out the “For undergraduates” section of our lab website to see whether we might be a good fit for you (https://coevolving.org/lab-expectations/). To apply, please email Irish at eym8um@virginia.edu and include the word “application” in the subject line. Please include a brief description of your interest in the lab (why you are interested in the position, what you hope to gain from it), information about your typical weekly schedule (what times you are unavailable due to class, extracurriculars, or other commitments), and a resume or CV.

Congratulations to Caroline and Janis for their new paper accepted at BMC Biology! It’s a theoretical study entitled “Disentangling host genetic variation for avoidance and resistance to pathogens” and you can find the preprint here: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.09.642266v1

Mandy was recognized as a Dean’s Research Fellow! The Dean’s Research Fellows program recognizes a small cohort of exceptional scholars in Arts & Sciences who are outstanding in their respective fields and are conducting innovative and field-transforming research that has gained significant recognition. This award is a big recognition of all the hard work and important research done by members of the Gibson lab!

Mandy was elected to serve on the Council of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) from 2026 through 2028! Councilors are part of the leadership of SSE and have an opportunity to shape the future of this important scientific society: https://www.evolutionsociety.org/content/officers.html

Postdoc Caroline Amoroso was awarded a K99 from NIGMS to continue her independent research on the evolution of pathogen avoidance, in collaboration with the Rockman Lab at NYU