My research follows two interconnected themes addressing fundamental questions about the nature of biodiversity: (1) population genomics of hybridization and speciation, and (2) the evolution of host-symbiont systems. My approach includes a consistent enthusiasm for fieldwork, DNA analysis and bioinformatics, and a modest dose of mathematical modeling.

I encourage graduate students to develop their own research questions, which may involve my primary study organisms (salamanders) or not. My graduate students have worked on projects ranging from microbial ecology to experimental evolution in flour beetles to phylogenetics of cave fishes. Please see the People link for more details.