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Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology More Information Dr. Monica GeberDr. Geber spent her childhood mostly in Europe. For her undergraduate degree she attended Reed College in Oregon. She received a B.A. in mathematics. It was not until her senior year of college, when she fulfilled a distribution requirement by taking introductory biology, that she realized she enjoyed science so much. Dr. Geber went on to earn her master’s degree in evolutionary biology from Oregon State University and her Ph.D. in population biology/genetics from the University of Utah.Dr. Geber’s current research interest is in studying the evolutionary processes of populations, looking at what factors affect whether and in what direction population change occur over time. She chooses to study plant species because these specimens do not move around, and a researcher can easily go back to the same individual years down the line. Much of her work is done in the field. Currently, a project in New York is studying the population dynamics of two pairs of related species at their range boundaries. Additionally, Dr. Geber is conducting field research in California. She is especially interested in studying what limits species from expanding beyond their current geographic range, i.e. the cause for the failure of adaptation. She stresses that understanding the limits of adaptation to new environments could prove useful when trying to ameliorate species loss due to climate change or other environmental disruptions. Dr. Geber enjoys working with undergraduate, because she likes to see people learn, whether that is in the classroom or the lab. She welcomes any curious undergraduates who think they may have an interest in population biology and genetics. She currently has one undergraduate working with her and several graduate students and post-docs (many of whom are often not in the lab, but in the field). Dr. Geber generally discusses several projects with an interested undergraduate after getting a sense of his/her general interest and the tools he/she is eager to learn how to use. From there, it is up to the undergraduate to decide which project peaks his/her interest and to get started. |