CV
Education
B.S. Geology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio 2005
Ph.D. EEB, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 2012
Academic employment history
July 2014-present Postdoctoral Researcher, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Oct 2013-June 2014 Postdoctoral Researcher, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
Sept 2012-Sept 2013: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France.
Aug 2011-Aug 2012: Trainee, Computational and Mathematical Modeling of Biomedical Systems (NIH), Program in Applied Mathematics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
Jan 2010-Dec 2011: Graduate research assistant, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
Peer-reviewed publications
Libby, E., Driscoll, W.W., and Ratcliff, W.C. (2018) “Bet hedging drives selection for microbial programmed cell death.” Scientific reports: 8:1120
Driscoll, W.W. and Travisano, M. (2017) “Synergistic cooperation promotes multicellular performance and unicellular free-rider persistence.” Nature Communications 8: 15707.
Wilson, C.E., Eldakar, O.T., Lopez, J. V., Driscoll, W.W., and Smith, R.P. (2017) “Cooperation and competition shape ecological resistance during periodic spatial disturbance of engineered bacteria.” Scientific Reports 7: 440.
Driscoll, W.W., Hackett, J.D., and Ferrière, R. (2015) “Eco-evolutionary feedbacks between private and public goods: Evidence from toxic algal blooms.” Ecology Letters 19: 81-97.
Rainey, P. B., Desprat, N., Driscoll, W. W., and Zhang, X. X. (2014) “Microbes are not bound by sociobiology: response to Kümmerli and Ross-Gillespie.” Evolution, 68: 3344-3355.
Driscoll, W. W., Espinosa, N. J.*, Eldakar, O.T., and Hackett, J. D. (2013) “Allelopathy as an emergent, exploitable public good in the bloom-forming microalga Prymnesium parvum.” Evolution, 67: 1582-1590.
Herron, M., Shelton, D., Rashidi, A., and Driscoll, W. W. (2013) “Cellular differentiation and individuality in the “minor” multicellular taxa.” Biological Reviews, 88: 844-861.
Eldakar, O. T., Gallup, A. C., and Driscoll, W. W. (2013) “When hawks give rise to doves: the evolution and transition of enforcement strategies.” Evolution, 67: 1549-1560.
Driscoll, W. W., Pepper, J. W., Pierson, L. S., and Pierson, E. A. (2011) “Gac mutants in Pseudomonas chlororaphis biofilms: social parasite or mutualist?” Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77: 7227-7235.
Driscoll, W. W. and Pepper, J. W. 2010. “Theory for the evolution of diffusible public goods traits.” Evolution, 64: 2682-2687.
Nedelcu, A., Driscoll, W. W., Durand, P., Herron, M., Rashidi, A., and Shelton, D. 2010. “On the paradigm of altruistic suicide in the unicellular world.” Evolution, 65: 3-20.
Driscoll, W. W., Wiles, G. C., D’Arrigo, R. D., and Wilmking, M. (2005) “Divergent tree growth response to recent climatic warming, Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, Alaska.” Geophysical Research Letters, 32: L20703.
* Undergraduate student
Funding and innovation
Experimental evolution of multicellularity in a social microbe. Under review. PIs: Driscoll, W. W. and Travisano, M. NSF Division of Environmental Biology.
Preliminary Proposal: Experimental evolution of multicellularity in a social microbe. Invited 2017. PIs: Driscoll, W. W. and Travisano, M. NSF Division of Environmental Biology.
Rapid, interactive, visual mining of biological motion.† 2014. PIs: Shin, M., Dornhaus, A., and Hackett, J. NSF Advances in Biological Informatics.
Use of predatory, mixotrophic microalgae to enhance the ecological stability of large-scale culturing. 2014. Driscoll, W.W. and Hackett, J. Provisional patent #8085-93111-01.
Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2013. LabEx MemoLife, Département de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure.
Structured groups and the evolution of cooperation in pathogenic biofilms. 2010. Driscoll, W.W. and Hackett, J. NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant.
† University rules prevented postdoctoral researchers from being listed as PIs on NSF grants. However, my research was a major part of this grant, and I contributed significantly to the writing.
Research seminars (invited)
Driscoll, W. W. (2017) "Social conflict during the experimental evolution of multicellularity." Microbial and Plant Genomics Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Driscoll, W. W. (2017) “The experimental evolution of multicellularity.” Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, USA.
Driscoll, W. W. (2015) "The origin and fate of collective behavior during evolutionary and ecological transitions.” Ecology, Evolution and Behavior Departmental Seminar, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Driscoll, W. W. (2013) “The ecological consequences of microbial sociality.” Biology Department, College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, USA.
Driscoll, W. W. and Ferrière, R. (2013) “Private and public goods in a toxic microalga.” Presentation at workshop: “Games in Evolution: Models and Microbes,” Collège de France, Paris, France.
Presentations at meetings
Driscoll, W. W. and Travisano, M. (2016) “Ecological causes and consequences of developmental complexity in multicellular yeast.” Presentation at the Society for the Study of Evolution, 2016 National Meeting, Austin, TX, USA.
Driscoll, W. W. and Travisano, M. (2015) “Association of non-relatives during the evolution of multicellularity: results from the dairy yeast Kluyveromyces lactis.” Gordon Research Conference: Microbial Population Biology, Andover, New Hampshire, USA.
Driscoll, W. W., Ferrière, R., and Hackett, J. (2012) “Do alternative phenotypes in toxic Prymnesium parvum blooms reveal a social dilemma?” Presentation at the Society for the Study of Evolution, 2012 National Meeting, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Driscoll, W. W. and Hackett, J. (2011) “Multilevel selection and adaptive hypotheses for toxin production in microalgae.” Presentation at the Phycological Society of America 2011 National Meeting, Seattle, WA, USA.
Driscoll, W. W., Pierson, L. S., and Pierson, E. A. (2011) “Public goods-mediated mutualism between global regulatory variants in Pseudomonas chlororaphis biofilms.” Presentation at the Society for the Study of Evolution 2011 National Meeting, Norman, OK, USA.
Driscoll, W. W., Pierson, L. S., and Pierson, E. A. (2011) “Spontaneous Gac mutants in Pseudomonas biological control strains: Are they cheaters or mutualists?” Presentation at the American Phytopathological Society 2011 National Meeting, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Driscoll, W. W. (2011) “Public goods problems in microbes.” Presentation at NIMBioS Workshop: Individual-based microbial ecology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA.
Honors
· Departmental Graduate Student Award for Scholarship, University of Arizona Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, 2012.
· Honors, Independent Study Thesis, The College of Wooster, 2004.
Teaching, mentorship, and professional service
· Teacher, freshman seminar, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2015-2017. Co-designed and taught (with Michael Travisano) a new course for first year students that introduced the scientific method as an approach to problem solving through readings, lectures, class discussions, and writing assignments.
· Peer reviewer for Scientific Reports, Journal of Evolution, American Naturalist, Plant Cell, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Freshwater Science, Marine Progress Series, 2012-present.
· External adviser, Washington Magnet School, St. Paul, Minnesota, Fall 2015. Collaborated with a middle school teacher in the St. Paul Public School district to design a lab module in which students observed the rapid evolution of ‘snowflake’ multicellularity in the yeast K. lactis.
· Master’s thesis supervisor, Iago Bonnici, “Mixotrophy, cheaters and the public good in algal populations”, Laboratoire Ecologie & Evolution, École Normale Supérieure, 2013.
· Graduate Student Representative, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 2009-2010.
· Arizona Assurance Mentor, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 2009-2011.
· Teacher/counselor, Summerhill Farm Science Camp, Shreve, Ohio, 2011.
· Teaching assistant, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 2007-2011. Assisted during lectures and supervised laboratories in the courses Ecology, Darwinian medicine, and Introduction to Biology.