Morgan is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Farrah Bashey-Visser’s lab, where she uses the symbiotic relationship between entomopathogenic nematodes and their bacteria to investigate how complex host-microbe interactions can explain the diversity of co-occurring parasites in sympathy. Outside of research, Morgan is passionate about science literacy and outreach, community building, and advocacy at IU. This has taken the form of undergraduate education as an associate instructor, participating in Science Fest, mentoring students through the CISAB and CEWIT REU programs, serving on the Biology DEI committee, and volunteering as a mentor for the Bloomington South Science Olympiad team.

Ellie is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Ledon-Rettig lab, studying how shifts in temperature will effect the plasticity of fitness related traits across generations in spadefoot toads. She has taught Animal Behavior Workshop and is involved with science outreach at the K-12 and community level. Ellie wants to continue working in the intersection of teaching and research with the ultimate goal of becoming a professor at a small liberal arts school.

Eleni’s main research interests to date involve the genetic basis of novel developmental traits, using nematode worms as focal organisms. More specifically, she is interested in how genes and gene networks change in both development and evolution to produce morphological novelties, and particularly the role of (i) nuclear receptor systems and (ii) metabolism as the mediators between developmental environment and phenotype.

Ananya is a 5th-year Ph.D. student in the Hundley lab with a research focus on regulation of gene expression by RNA binding proteins and factors that can affect this process. Ananya plans to graduate by the end of this year and hopes to go into the industry as an R&D scientist!

Erica is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Moczek lab, studying the evolution and development of sex-biased traits and novel traits in horned beetles. She has taught Entomology and Biology of the Senses, and she is involved with science outreach in local classrooms using hands-on teaching modules to introduce students to topics including the scientific method, mammalian evolution, and human evolution.

Shefali is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Tennessen lab. Shefali's thesis is devoted to identifying signaling pathways that coordinate metabolism and development across multiple organ systems. In this regard, she is specifically interested in determining how the glycolytic enzymes interface with systemic growth signaling pathways and contribute to interorgan communication using the fruitflies Drosophila melanogaster as her model system.