Kira Delmore

Kira is the PI in the lab. She obtained her BSCH, MA and PhD at universities in Canada (Queen’s University, Universities of Calgary and British Columbia) before spending 3 years as a Postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in northern Germany. Her research is motivated by understanding where diversity originated in the natural world and how it is maintained. She is inspired by the varied ways in which hybrid zones can be used to understand this topic.

Bird she is most like: Snowy owl

Email: kdelmore@bio.tamu.edu; Phone: 979-900-2129

Sope Adeniji

Sope joined the lab as a Research Technician in the summer of 2022 after completing her Masters as Auburn University. She has stayed on as a PhD student in the Biology Department at Texas A&M. Sope is pioneering work on the epigenetics of seasonal migration in our lab.

Bird she is most like: American kestrel

Email: odadeniji@bio.tamu.edu

ALYSSA NOWIcKI

Lyss joined the lab as a PhD student in 2025. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Cornell University; her undergraduate thesis focused on the effects of latitude and land cover on productivity in kestrels. Lyss is interested in how environmental conditions influence avian ecology and behavior, especially in the context of climate change and human-driven habitat alteration. For her PhD, she will be studying the role of environmental cues and epigenetic expression in shaping the migratory behavior of Purple Martins. 

Bird they are most like: Raven

Email: arn2160@columbia.edu

Rachel Urban

Rachel is a PhD student in the lab. She started her PhD in the Biology Department in the fall of 2023. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Butler University in Indianapolis, where she completed her undergraduate thesis on seasonal plasticity in butterfly wing patterns. Rachel is fascinated by color and will be studying the reproductive barriers (including male iridescent gorget color) between Ruby-throated and Black-chinned hummingbirds utilizing data from hybrid zones in Texas and Oklahoma.

Bird she is most like: Northern mockingbird

Email: rurban@tamu.edu

Tori Wiley

Tori is a Visiting PhD Scholar in the lab. She uses tools in conservation genomics and ecotoxicology to investigate an avian Neotropical migrant, the Purple Martin. Specifically, her dissertation focuses on evolutionary divergence between three Purple Martin subspecies using genomic, bioacoustic, and morphometric analyses, as well evaluating their exposure to toxicants. She has a special interest in integrating avian migration research with conservation applications.

Bird she is most like: Northern Mockingbird

Email: vaw33@nau.edu

Shasta Corvus

Shasta joined the lab as a PhD student in 2024 after finishing their Masters at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Shasta is interested in understanding ways in which anthropogenic disturbances, especially climate change, affect avian ecology and evolution. Following their interests, they have joined the lab to investigate the consequences of temperature on migration timing in Purple Martins.

Bird they are most like: Bluejay

Email: shasta.corvus@tamu.edu

Ritu Chauhan

Ritu is an undergrad in the lab. She is a Biology major with a minor in Psychology. She joined the lab in 2022 and is currently working on analyzing male hummingbird shuttle displays. Ritu plans to pursue Physician Assistant school after graduation.

Bird she is most like: Great blue heron

Ashley Graham

Ashley is an undergrad in the lab. She is majoring in Biology and minoring in Performance Studies. She joined the lab 2023 doing fieldwork in the Black-chinned and Ruby-throated hybrid zone. She hopes to go to grad school for Marine Biology and eventually work to conserve marine wildlife.

Michelle Chang

Michelle is an undergrad in the lab. She is a Biology major with a minor in Business and Psychology. She joined the lab Spring 2023 and has been working on quantifying feather colors of the Black-hinned and Ruby-throated hummingbirds. In the future, Michelle wants to be a Physician Assistant and work in the medical field.

Bird she is most like: American kestrel

Aeris Clarkson

Aeris is an undergrad in the lab. She is currently working on a project to quantify tail feather shape in Black-chinned and Ruby-throated hummingbirds. After graduation, she plans to pursue a PhD in conservation biology.

Bird she is most like: Yellow-billed magpie

mary cornett

Mary is an undergrad in the lab. She is a biology major with a business minor and joined the lab during the Spring of 2024. She is working on a meta analysis summarizing literature on cline analyses in hybrid zones. 

Bird she is most like: Peregrine falcon

Evelien deGreef

Evelien completed her MSc in the lab. She was co--supervised by Kevin Fraser from the University of Manitoba. And pioneered the work on Purple martins in our lab, describing population structure and demography in the eastern subspecies and undercovering genomic regions that underlie variation in their migratory timing. Evelien is currently working as a bioinformatician in the Garroway lab at the University of Manitoba.

Steph Blain

Steph wass a Postdoc in the lab. She joined in Fall 2022 and was interested in the processes driving early stages of divergence between populations and species. She tackled these questions using the Swainson’s thrush and has since moved on to work for the the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario.

Bird she is most like: Mourning dove

Email: sblain@exchange.tamu.edu

Sarah Vastani

Sarah was a Masters student in the lab. She joined in Spring 2024 from the Math Department and brought machine learning techniques to questions of survival and migration in the lab. She is currently working as a research technician at Texas A&M University.

Bird she is most like: Mourning dove

Email: sarahvastani@gmail.com