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 is committed to promoting equity and inclusion in STEM. She enjoys running, hiking, cooking, and playing board games. CV

Email: popgenchen@ucla.edu
Pronouns: she/her/hers

David Tian - Postdoctoral Scholar

David is an evolutionary biologist interested in how small populations evolve and developing predictive models for their conservation and management. He is integrating genomic, pedigree, and life-history data in Florida Scrub-Jays to investigate how gene flow impacts phenotypes, fitness, and population dynamics over time. He hopes that by taking advantage of naturally occurring cases of multigenerational immigration into small populations, we can improve decision making surrounding genetic rescue of endangered populations. David earned his PhD in Chris Martin’s lab at UC Berkeley. His dissertation investigated the genomic consequences of long-term small population size and isolation in the Devils Hole pupfish. In his free time, David enjoys cycling, cooking, and hiking with his dog Cosmo. For more, see David’s website.

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. He is interested in the relative importance of selection, drift, and gene flow, as well as how they shape variation in natural populations. His work with the North American red squirrel investigates the effect of fluctuating environments on variation in fitness, long-term genetic contributions, and genome-wide selection. Outside of the lab, Brian enjoys poetry, 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

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.