College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Major Advisor:

Tyler Buchinger

Background:

Growing up in Washington State in the Seattle area, Alec developed an early interest in conservation and study of the natural world, being surrounded by mountains, forests and the Puget Sound. He earned his B.A. in Biology from Carleton College, where he worked as a student naturalist in a restored prairie ecosystem, and as a research assistant investigating the evolution of nutrient uptake genes in marine microbes. Following graduation, Alec worked in various research roles, including as a research assistant in a malaria genomics laboratory, a research apprentice investigating plankton community composition in the San Juan Islands, and as a research assistant investigating the ecological drivers of parasite community composition in African ungulates, before joining the Genomics and Chemical Ecology Laboratory as a PhD student. His research interests center on using genomic and bioinformatic tools to understand population structure, evolutionary histories, and inform conservation of wildlife. His graduate research focuses on investigating the genomic and developmental basis of parasitism in native lamprey. In his free time Alec enjoys hiking, bird watching, and rock climbing.