The Team

Nancy Chen - Principal Investigator

Nancy is an evolutionary biologist interested in the genomic basis of contemporary evolution in natural populations. Her research integrates genomics and long-term demographic studies to characterize the evolutionary processes shaping patterns of variation across the genome through space and time. Nancy earned her Ph.D. with Andy Clark and John Fitzpatrick at Cornell University and then did a postdoc with Graham Coop at UC Davis before moving to Rochester. She is committed to promoting equity and inclusion in STEM. Nancy enjoys running, hiking, cooking, and playing board games. CV

Email: nancy.chen@rochester.edu
Twitter: @popgenchen
Pronouns: she/her/hers

Elizabeth Flesch - Postdoctoral Scholar (co-advised by Jay Rotella)

Elizabeth is interested in understanding how external forces influence population genetics across landscapes. She is using demographic and genomic methods to evaluate the spatial scale of dispersal and gene flow among breeding colonies of Weddell seals found in Antarctica. This approach will help identify potential drivers of temporal variation in immigration. Elizabeth earned her Ph.D. at Montana State University, where her dissertation addressed the population genomics of bighorn sheep in the Rocky Mountains. In her free time, she enjoys rock climbing, gardening, and hiking.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Daniel Seidman - Postdoctoral Scholar

Daniel joined the Chen lab in late 2022. He mainly studied computational biology for his PhD, with an emphasis on making new tools to improve or facilitate genomic analyses. He has a long-term goal of facilitating analyses of non-model organisms. In the Chen lab, he is looking into the Florida Scrub Jay, using the lab’s available datasets to investigate organismal fitness on a genomic level. He has occasionally made educational stop-motion or Claymation shorts, and is looking into making one for this lab as well.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Shailee Shah - Postdoctoral Scholar

Shailee is interested in the movement and dispersal of organisms in response to ecological and social factors, and the resulting group and population dynamics. She is studying Florida scrub-jay dispersal patterns on both an individual and population level. She hopes this work will help us better understand what non-scrub habitat Florida scrub-jays prefer to use for movement between scrub habitat and help inform future conservation and management decisions. Shailee earned her Ph.D. in Dr. Dustin Rubenstein’s lab at Columbia University. Her doctoral dissertation investigated the socioecological drivers of complex social structure in an avian cooperative breeder, the superb starling. In her free time, Shailee enjoys reading (a lot), photography and hiking with her dog, Gus. For more, see Shailee’s website.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Brian Kirz - Graduate Student

Brian joined the Chen Lab in 2024 as a graduate student. As an undergraduate, he studied computational biology and developed methods to detect archaic introgression from other hominins. Brian is interested in investigating how life history strategies impact the genetics and genomics of small populations. Outside of the lab, he enjoys cooking, biking at night, and overly complicated map games.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Faye Romero - Graduate Student

As a PhD student in the Chen lab, Faye is interested in using genomics, computational biology, and population genetics to better understand how inbreeding impacts the fitness of small, threatened populations. Specifically, she is investigating the underlying genetic architecture of inbreeding depression: how does elevated inbreeding manifest in the genome, and what regions of the genome contribute to fitness, and ultimately, population decline? During her undergraduate, she used museum specimens to determine how hummingbirds have responded to human-induced environmental change. Faye also loves to swing dance, birdwatch, and play video games! For more, see Faye’s website.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Jeremy Summers - Graduate Student

Jeremy is a PhD student interested in the causes of population decline and the role of dispersal in demographic and evolutionary trajectories. Using population level demography, individual fitness variation, and population genetics, he is investigating how dispersal into preserved Florida Scrub-Jay habitat contributes to population growth and levels of genetic variation. Jeremy is also interested in teaching evolutionary biology with an emphasis on diversity at every level of organization and the ways humans shape and interact with our local ecosystems. For more, see Jeremy’s website.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Abby Eckert - Undergraduate Researcher

Abby is a current sophomore majoring in Ecology and Evolution and Environmental Studies. This is her first semester in the lab and she is excited to learn more about population genetics, data analysis, and coding in R. She is especially interested in conservation. Abby is looking forward to implementing what she has learned in her classes. Outside of the lab, she enjoys crocheting, taking care of her houseplants, sailing, and doing artsy things.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Jenna Savino - Undergraduate Researcher

Jenna is an undergraduate majoring in Molecular Genetics and minoring in American Sign Language. She is very interested in how genetic variation affects populations and quantifying biological data utilizing various computer programming languages. Outside of the classroom, she enjoys listening to music and playing Minecraft.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Dashi and Espurr - Lab pets

Dashi and Espurr are second-year cats with broad interests including displays of affection, sleeping, and occasionally learning tricks. Dashi is our resident entomologist and wants to investigate the culinary uses of insects, if his lab-mate Jeremy would let him catch any. Espurr is specializing in botany and has discovered that frequent face rubbing with plants triggers a strong purr response in herself.

Minka - Lab pet

Minka is a springerdoodle who loves chewing on sticks, is obsessed with balls, and wants to play with every person/dog/cat she meets.

Gus - Lab pet

Gus is a rambunctious, teen-aged (in dog years) rescue pup who wants nothing more than to lie on your lap so that you are forced to write while he takes a well-earned nap.