We gathered all the Zamudio lab bodies that were on campus in late August for a photoshoot to accompany our lab profile… those of you who have done one of these before know how awkward it is to be photographed “acting normal” in front of the camera. We had fun – and here are some rockstar images of some of the members of the Zamudio Lab (Summer 2019). Photocredit: Dave Burbank
Lab News
Riddell et al. (2019) paper published in Nature Communications
Eric Riddell visited our lab a few years ago to work up the gene expression data in salamanders from different elevations kept at different temperatures, to test for the underpinnings of plasticity and response to thermal change. His paper was just published in Nature Communications.
This paper is a great example of integrative organismal biology, pairing field translocations, with gene expression, and predictive thermal susceptibility. Congrats to Eric for leading all the co-authors!
Fun write up on Jordan Garcia’s PhD research
Cornell Research recently profiled Jordan Garcia’s work on local thermal adaptation in widely distributed salamanders. The story includes details on his path to finding his interests and the questions he chose to address, a nice story of science in progress!
Jordan Garcia, PhD candidate
hardest part of A exam… 
Congratulations to Jordan Garcia, for completing his A-exam today! Jordan’s thesis focuses on thermal performance and local adaptation in spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) across its wide latitudinal range.
As is tradition in EEB, he dented a lab ceiling tile with a champagne cork!
Large classes reduce participation, especially by women
A new paper, led by Cissy Ballen (former active learning post-doc and now Assistant Professor at Auburn), just published in Bioscience! Data from a large number of classes across multiple institutions show that large classes reduce equity in classroom participation, especially by women. Active learning can make up some of that classroom deficit by making big classrooms feel smaller.
How can instructors promote equitable participation in science classrooms? Smaller classes and diverse teaching strategies play big roles.
Cornell Chronicle wrote an article about our paper.
Cait McDonald named CALS EEB Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant
Cait McDonald has taught many courses in EEB over the course of her graduate career, and excelled at all of them. This week she was named an Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant by Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Here she is with her certificate and a heavy golden apple! Congratulations Cait!
Zamudio Lab 