Washington University, St. Louis MO
Education
Ph.D. Biology, University of Massachusetts Boston (March 2018)
M.A. Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology (E3B), Columbia University (2011)
B.S. Biology and Mathematics, Chemistry minor, University of San Francisco (2006)
Research Activities
2018 – present
Post-doctoral research
Advised by Jonathan Losos (Washington University)
2012 – 2018
Dissertation Research: Urban Ecology and Evolution of Tropical Lizards in the genus Anolis
2008 – 2010
Master’s Thesis Research: An Assessment of Freshwater Turtles Along an Urbanization Gradient in Syracuse, New York
Advised by James Gibbs (SUNY-ESF & Columbia University)
2006 – 2008
(1) Digitization of CAS collections and field expeditions. (2) Morphological Analyses of Reptiles from Myanmar and China
Advised by Stan Blum and Jens Vindum (California Academy of Sciences)
2005
Effects of forest degradation on affiliative and aggressive behaviors in Black Mantled Howler Monkeys (Alouatta paliatta)
Tropical Ecology Field Course (Ometepe Island, Nicaragua)
2004 – 2005
Honors Research: Effects of Elevated UV radiation and ozone depletion by Antarctic and San Francisco Bay Plankton
Advised by Deneb Karentz and Dr. Paul K. Chien (University of San Francisco)
Publications
Winchell, K.M., *D. Briggs, and L.J. Revell. The perils of city life: Patterns of injury and fluctuating asymmetry in urban lizards. (in revision)
Lugo, A.E., Winchell, K.M., and Carlo, T. (2017). Novelty in Ecosystems. In Encyclopedia of the Anthropocene, vol. 3, eds. D.A. DellaSalla and M.I. Goldstein. Elsevier, USA. p.259-271.
Presentations
- Urban Evolution: Linking Habitat Use, Morphology, and Performance in Anolis lizards. Invited seminar (Moriarty Lecture Series): June 2018, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh PA
- Performance Consequences of Urban Morphological Shifts: March 2018, Anolis Symposium VII, Miami, FL
- City Lizards: How Anoles are Adapting to a Changing World. Invited seminar: August 2017, University of North Carolina Asheville
- Fit for urbanization: novel habitat use and adaptation in a tropical lizard. Invited workshop: Synthesis in the City: Urban Evolutionary Ecology. New Phytologist and University of Toronto: July 2017, Toronto, Canada.
- Urban adaptation in Lizards: Connecting Phenotypic Shifts with Performance and Survival. Invited symposium: Evolution in Urban Ecosystems.
Evolution annual meeting: June 2017, Portland, Oregon. - Adapting to the Anthropocene: How cities impact ecology and evolution of reptiles. Invited seminar: October 2016. University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia.
- Ecological and adaptive shifts in urban Anolis lizards in Puerto Rico. Invited symposium: Urban Ecology: A Socio-Ecological Insight from Tropical Regions and Latin America. Ecological Society of America annual meeting: August 2016, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Ehrenfeld Award for best student presentation from ESA Urban Ecology Section
- Ecological and adaptive shifts in urban Anolis lizards in Puerto Rico. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists: July 2016, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Award for best student presentation from Herpetologists’ League - Evolutionary effects of urbanization on the tropical lizard genus Anolis. Evolution annual meeting: June 2016, Austin, Texas
- Urban Evolution: Natural selection and genetic basis of phenotypic shifts in urban Anolis cristatellus. Evolution annual meeting: June 2015, Guaruja, Brazil
- Phenotypic shifts in urban areas in the tropical lizard Anolis cristatellus. Evolution annual meeting: June 2014, Raleigh, North Carolina
- Refuges For Freshwater Turtles In Human-Impacted Regions. Nantucket Biodiversity Research Conference: November 2013, Nantucket, Massachusetts
- Phenotypic shifts in urban populations of the tropical lizard, Anolis cristatellus (poster). Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists: July 2013, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Award for best student poster by SSAR (Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles) - Primates of the Nicaraguan Rainforest and Human Impact on the Environment at Ometepe, Nicaragua. Department Lecture, October 27, 2005. University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California
Awards and Grants
- Outstanding Dissertation in Biology (University of Massachusetts Boston, 2018)
- NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG): “Dissertation Research: Adaptive responses to urbanization in the tropical lizard Anolis cristatellus” with L.J. Revell
- Herpetologists’ League, award for best student presentation. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists 2016
- Ecological Society of America, Ehrenfeld Award for best student presentation in urban ecology. ESA annual meeting 2016
- American Society for Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (ASIH), Gaige Award 2014
- Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR), Student Poster Award. Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists (JMIH) 2013
- NSF Award: Urban Adaptation and its Role in the Success of Biological Invasion in Anolis Lizards. (Principal Investigators: J.J. Kolbe, D.A. Warner, and L.J. Revell) partially based on and supporting my doctoral research.
- Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship (University of Massachusetts Boston, Office of Graduate Studies, 2011-2015)
Teaching
- 2013 – 2017
Field Course Instructor, Tropical Biology in Puerto Rico, University of Massachusetts Boston - 2013 – 2017
Teaching Assistant, University of Massachusetts Boston: Neurobiology - 2011
Biology Content Manager, Boundless Learning (Boston-based education startup) - 2009 – 2010
Teaching Assistant, Columbia University: Disease Ecology - 2002 – 2006
Teaching Assistant, University of San Francisco: General Biology 1 & 2 - 2004 – 2006
Tutor, University of San Francisco: Biology, Mathematics
Reviewer for:
- Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology
- Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
- Copeia
- Ecology
- Ecology & Evolution
- Evolution
- Functional Ecology
- Herpetological Conservation & Biology
- Journal of Morphology
- Journal of Animal Ecology
- Molecular Ecology
- Oecologia
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B
Languages
Spanish (fluent), Portuguese (conversational), French (basic / learning)
Adaptability 