Blackburn Lab
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​


​Principal Investigator

Picture of Dave Blackburn, Principal Investigator
David C. Blackburn
Associate Curator of Herpetology
Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

Affiliate Faculty in UF's Department of Biology, Tropical Conservation and Development program, School of Natural Resources and Environment, and Center for African Studies.


Lead PI, oVert Thematic Collections Network
​CoPI, iDigBio
Fellow and Research Associate, California Academy of Sciences

Associate Curator, 2014–2015, California Academy of Sciences

Assistant Curator, 2011–2014, California Academy of Sciences
Postdoctoral Researcher, 2008–2011, University of Kansas
​​Ph.D., 2008, Harvard University
​A.B., 2001, University of Chicago
ResearchGate    Google Scholar    Impactstory
Bionomia    ​ORCID

​Affiliated Scientists

Picture of Ed Stanley, Associate Scientist
Ed Stanley, Ph.D.
Associate Scientist
Florida Museum of Natural History

Ed oversees the FLMNH's Digital Imaging Lab and is a close collaborator of the Blackburn Lab. He is a coPI on the oVert Thematic Collections Network and involved as a collaborator in many projects in the lab.
Ed's website

ResearchGate    Google Scholar

Staff

Picture of Molly Phillips, EODI Coordinator
Molly Phillips
Education, Outreach, Diversity, & Inclusion Coordinator
iDigBio

M.Sc., 2013, University of Manitoba
B.S., 2006, University of Florida


As the Education, Outreach, Diversity, & Inclusion Coordinator, Molly is responsible for coordinating and implementing the EODI activities of iDigBio and communicating and facilitating coordination and networking among the TCNs in order to promote, encourage, develop, and implement relevant E&O and related Broader Impact activities.
Picture of Collection Manager, Coleman Sheehy
Coleman M. Sheehy III, Ph.D.
Collection Manager, Herpetology
Florida Museum of Natural History

Ph.D., 2012, University of Texas, Arlington
​
Coleman oversees a growing group of volunteers and curatorial assistants working in the FLMNH herpetology collection. He is also a specialist in snake systematics.
​
​ResearchGate

Postdoctoral Scientists

Picture of Jaimi Gray, postdoc
Jaimi Gray
Ph.D., 2018, University of Adelaide
​B.S., 2013, University of Adelaide

Jaimi is a CT imaging and morphology specialist and a postdoc on the oVert Thematic Collections Network. Her research includes comparative morphology of lizard skulls, arachnid weaponry, and snake brains and neurosensory systems. She has worked in field sites and labs in Australia, New Zealand, and the USA.
Google Scholar

Graduate Students

Picture of Adania Flemming, graduate student
Adania Flemming
Ph.D. student in UF Department of Biology
M.S., 2018, University of Florida
B.S., 2011, University of Tampa


UF Graduate School Fellowship

Adania's research is at the intersection of science and education. She is using natural history collections as a resource to introduce and prepare undergraduate students for careers in science.
Picture of Greg Jongsma, graduate student
Greg Jongsma
Ph.D. student in UF Department of Biology
M.S., 2014, San Francisco State University
B.S., 2010, Acadia University


Postgraduate Scholarship, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada​

Greg is working on the comparative phylogeography and systematics of frogs in Central Africa, including the role of forest refugia in structuring patterns of species diversity and gene flow. He has conducted field research in Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Republic of Congo, and Uganda. 
Greg's website

Google Scholar
Picture of Rachel Keeffe, graduate student
Rachel Keeffe
Ph.D. student in UF Department of Biology
B.S., 2017, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

UF Graduate School Fellowship
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Rachel is working on the functional morphology. She recently completed a project on the comparative morphology of the limbs across front-first burrowing frogs.
Picture of Marcel Talla Kouete, graduate student
Marcel Talla Kouete
Ph.D. student in UF School of Natural Resources & Environment
M.S., 2015, San Francisco State University
EGDGE Fellow, 2011–2013, Zoological Society of London
M.S., 2003, University of Douala
​​
Marcel is working on issues related to the conservation and natural history of amphibians in tropical forests in Central Africa. His work involves studying the distribution and diversity of the fungal pathogen contributing to many amphibian declines and skin microbiomes based on field research in Cameroon.
ResearchGate    ​Google Scholar
Picture of Dan Paluh, graduate student
Dan Paluh
Ph.D. student in UF Department of Biology
M.S., 2016, Villanova University
B.S., 2014, John Caroll University

UF Graduate School Fellowship
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Dan is working on a variety of projects related to phenotypic diversity, evolution, and function across amphibians and reptiles. His current research focused on the evolution of life history in the marsupial frogs of South America as well as large-scale patterns of trait evolution in frogs.
Dan's website

​ResearchGate    Google Scholar
Picture of Maria Camila Vallejo-Pareja
María Camila Vallejo-Pareja
Ph.D. student in UF Department of Biology
M.S., 2018, Sam Houston State University
B.Sc., 2011, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá
​

UF Graduate School Fellowship
COLCIENCIAS Doctorados en el Exterior Scholarship, Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Colombia

María has a background in vertebrate paleontology and is co-advised with Jon Bloch at FLMNH. She is currently working on developing a better understanding of the frogs from the Oligocene of Florida.


ResearchGate
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Interested in joining the lab?
Check out the graduate program in Biology at the University of Florida, or contact us in the Division of Herpetology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Visiting Students & Postdocs

Picture of Fernanda Magalhães Silva
Fernanda Magalhães Silva
​Ph.D. student in Universidade Federal do Pará/Museu Goeldi
M.S., 2013, Universidade Federal do Pará/Museu Goeldi
B.S., 2008, Universidade Federal do Pará

Brazil Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) PDSE 41/2018 Fellowship
​
Fernanda's research during her visit to UF focuses on embryonic development and ontogenetic changes in the skull of an Amazonian pit viper using CT-Scans and 3D geometric morphometrics.

ResearchGate

Undergraduate Students
Picture of Adrina Perez, undergraduate researcher
Adrina Perez
University of Florida

Adrina is working in our molecular genetics lab ​with grad student Greg Jongsma and helping out on a variety of projects related to African frog diversity and conservation.
Picture of Amber Singh, undergraduate researcher
Amber Singh
University of Florida

UF University of Scholars Program
​
Amber is working to characterize shape variation in the inner ears of frogs and relating that to ecomorphology and phylogeny. She is helping to create digital and 3D-printed models for education related to the oVert TCN. But she also really likes snakes.

Former Lab and Field Team Members


Picture of Stuart Nielsen, postdoc
Stu Nielsen
Visiting Assistant Professor, Marquette University
Courtesy Faculty, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

Stu was a postdoc in the lab from 2018–2020 working on gopher frogs, African frogs, and more.

Google Scholar
Picture of Paulo Pinheiro, visiting postdoc
Paulo D. P. Pinheiro
​Postdoc at Universidade de São Paulo

Paulo was a visiting postdoc in the lab for 6 months in 2020, supported by a Bolsa de Estágio em Pesquisa no Exterior Fellowship from FAPESP in Brazil. 

Paulo's website
Picture of Catherine Early, oVert Postdoctoral Researcher
Catherine Early
Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology
​Science Museum of Minnesota

Catherine was a postdoc on the oVert TCN project.

​Catherine's website
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Igor Joventino Roberto
Ph.D. student in Universidade Federal do Amazonas

Igor's visited the lab in 2019 for 6 months while working on systematics and species delimitation of caimans.

ResearchGate
Picture of Bryan McLean, postdoctoral researcher
Bryan McLean
Assistant Professor
​Univ. North Carolina - Greensboro

​Bryan was a NSF PRFB postdoc in the lab, along with Rob Guralnick and David Reed.

Bryan's website
Picture of Jessica Oswald, postdoc
Jessica Oswald
Postdoc with Rob Guralnick and Julie Allen.

Jess was a postdoc in the Blackburn Lab from 2016–2018 and was also associated with Rob Guralnick and Dave Steadman's labs.

Jessica's website
Picture of Oona Takano, Administrative Specialist for oVert TCN project
Oona Takano
Admin., oVert TCN 2018

​PhD student, University of New Mexico

Picture of Lauren Gonzales, postdoc
Lauren Gonzales
Assistant Professor
​Univ. South Carolina - Greenville

Lauren was a postdoc in the Blackburn Lab from 2015–2016 and was also associated with Jon Bloch's lab.

Lauren's website
Picture of Gio Fuentes

Giovanni Fuentes
UF undergraduate, 2017–2020

Picture of Dani Hayes, undergraduate researcher
T. Dani Hayes
UF undergraduate, 2017–2020
Picture of Manas Sharma, visiting student researcher
Manas Sharma
Visiting Student Researcher
June–July 2017

Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Trivandrum, India
Picture of CJ Blair, visiting student researcher
C.J. Blair
Visiting Student Researcher
​January 2017


Oberlin College
Picture of Luís Ceríaco, postdoc
Luís Ceríaco
Investigator, Universidade do Porto

​Luis was a postdoc in the Blackburn Lab from 2014–2016 funded by a grant from JRS Biodiversity Foundation.

Luis on ResearchGate
Picture of Lauren Roberts
Lauren Roberts
Undergraduate Curatorial Assistant
June–July 2016

Lauren visited us from Dave McLeod's lab at James Madison University
Picture of Dan Portik
Dan Portik
Bioinformatics Scientist, Pacific Biosciences 

Cameroon 2011, 2013, 2014
​Uganda 2014

Google Scholar
Picture of Brian Freiermuth
Brian Freiermuth
M.Sc., 2015, San Francisco State University

Cameroon 2013, 2014
Picture of Lauren Scheinberg
Lauren Scheinberg
Collection Manager
California Academy of Sciences

Nigeria 2012
Cameroon 2014


CAS Herpetology
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Jens V. Vindum
Collection Manager (retired)
California Academy of Sciences
​
Nigeria 2012
Angola 2012, 2013, 2015

​CAS Herpetology
Picture of Walter Tapondjou
Walter Tapondjou
MSc​ student, Univ. Kansas
​
Cameroon 2014
Picture of Becca Tarvin
Becca Tarvin
Assistant Prof., UC-Berkeley

Cameroon 2013

Becca's website
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