Graduate Students
Because my own research interests are diverse, my graduate students work on subjects that are similarly diverse. My basic graduate student teaching philosophy is to work with the student to formulate an ambitious research program and then have the student function as the principle investigator. I try to serve as an intellectual collaborator and provide resources to the best of my ability, but I do not attempt to micro-manage the project. This approach requires a LOT of maturity, independence, and motivation on the part of the student, with a genuine danger of sinking instead of swimming, but those who succeed have something to show for it and tend to do well on the job market.
Past students include:
Lee Dugatkin
(evolution of cooperation and imitation behaviors in fish)Beren Robinson
(multiple-niche polymorphisms in single populations of fish)David Near
(Machiavellianism in humans)Thom DeWitt
(phenotypic plasticity in snails)Kris Coleman
(shyness and boldness in fish)Jeff Arendt
(growth and development as evolvable life history parameters in fish and tadpoles)John Timmel
(group-level decision making in humans)Bill Swenson
(ecosystem-level selection)Kevin Kniffin
(sports teams and business groups from a multilevel evolutionary perspective)Rick O'Gorman
(human social norms)
My current students include:
Charles Sontag
(social foraging in tadpoles)Kevin Sheridan
(eating disorders from a cultural evolutionary perspective)Omar Eldakar
(empirical and theoretical models of social control)Ingrid Storm
(religion from an evolutionary perspective)