My journey in (to?) biology, briefly.
I started out in 1983 at the University of Virginia as an English major. But I grew up in a small town in Georgia, where for me at least, 4-H was about the only thing going.
Eventually realizing I wasn't a very good English major, and casting about for what to do instead, I remembered my 4-H days and found my way to biology. Specifically a class in plant biology, which sparked something, was the key. For whatever reason, I decided I needed to change my major and my college, and transferred to the the University of Georgia, where I majored in zoology. UGA had great teachers, mentors, and people (here's to you Ernie Provost, Josh Laerm, Gene Helfman, and the entire crew in the photos below. Partners in trapping and field station shenanigans). Somehow I came to know a lot about American eels and pocket gophers.
I spent the summer of 1988 learning a little field biology at RMBL, in Gothic, Colorado, which was an eye-opening experience. I had never seen a hummingbird before, or really even designed an experiment. I met many biologists, and made life-long friends. I would revisit the lab over the years, but never as much as I wished.
After graduating, I chased bobcats for a while on Cumberland Island, Ga. Cheers Greg, Joe, Leslie, Bill, Duane, Dave and the entire work crew, Gogo and Greyfield, and countless others, too many to name. And the bobcats of course.
Then, in 1991, I enrolled in a MSc program in behavioral ecology at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver Canada, studying with Larry Dill. I learned about behavior from the many really smart people there (I mean like crazy smart), but in the end, I learned from the beautiful milkweed leaf beetles, still my favorite to this day. A stint in Bernie Crespi's lab led to my interest in gall-forming insects and social behavior.
So in 1995, really by luck more than any foresight on my part, I entered a PhD program in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona with Nancy Moran, where I began a long, long interest in gall-forming aphids and social behavior. Working in Nancy's lab, and with Nancy, was a life-changing experience for me. It was a long way from Charlottesville and English majors to Nancy's lab. So many life-long pals. You know who you are.
In 2002, I started a postdoc in Ulrich Mueller's lab at the University of Texas at Austin, as a NSF postdoctoral fellow in microbial biology, studying leaf-cutting ants (sadly, I have no pictures from the lab!). I loved living in Austin. Clarksville was still a wee bit Clarksville then. It was mesmerizing in that Austin way.
And finally, in 2004, I began my own lab at Vanderbilt. Off the bat, I returned to working on aphids and social behavior, having been very fortunate to get a grant from NSF during my first year. But thanks to friends and collaborators, I started to branch out. John Stireman, who was a lab-mate in the Moran lab, and now at Wright State, reached out to me about working on these fascinating gall midges in the genus Asteromyia. And then other collaborators somehow found me - Antonis Rokas, Spence Behmer, and Dustin Rubenstein, and many others (you also know who you are). I can't summarize 2 decades at Vanderbilt. I'll just simply call out 'Old guy lunch', shown below. It pretty much sums up everything. Founding members: Dave McCauley, Carl Johnson, Terry Page, Ken Catania, and the young guy (me).
Many years later, I found myself at the National Science Foundation, where I rotated in the Behavioral Systems cluster, in the Division of Integrative Organismal Systems. And then in 2023, I made decided to join NSF permanently, seeking new adventures. There will be plenty. Who knows, maybe I'll go back to Charlottesville for that English major one day.
