Todays PhDetails features Rachel Moran who studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Rachel studies sexual selection and speciation in a group of stream fishes called darters, which represent one of the most diverse groups of vertebrates in North America. Rachel uses behavioral and genomic approaches to ask how species interactions contribute to the evolution of traits associated with mate choice and competition over mates.
Where do you study and who is/are your supervisor?
I am in Dr. Becky Fuller’s lab at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
What year of your PhD are you in?
I’m about to start the sixth year of my PhD and will be graduating in the spring.
Who’s giving you the money – and for how long?
My stipend was funded through an NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) for two years and am currently an RA on an NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). My research has been funded by grants through my program, NSF (IGERT and DDIG programs), Sigma Xi, SICB, ASN, and SSE.
Do you have any publications – if so where?
My dissertation research has been published in Evolution, Current Zoology, Journal of Fish Biology, Ecology and Evolution, and Proceedings B.
Did you do a masters - was it about?
Yes, my MS research also focussed on darters. I studied social learning and mate choice in two distantly related, sympatric species of darters. One of the focal species exhibited paternal care and the other did not. I asked whether the presence of paternal care influenced the likelihood that either sex would engage in mate choice copying.
Do you do fieldwork? What is the best fieldwork you have ever done and what made it great?
I don’t conduct any experiments in the field, but I do have to go out and collect fish for my research. Because I study sexual selection and mating behaviour, I need to go out and collect darters during their spawning season in the early spring. The first field season of my PhD was spent driving around the eastern half of the US to collect and photograph my focal species in drainages across 12 different states. The goal was to quantify variation in male colour pattern. Tracking down all of my target populations was hard work, but I learned a lot about where you can expect to find these fish (and vice versa), and established collection sites for several long-term study populations.
How many PhDs did you apply for – what were you looking for?
I knew that I wanted to study behaviour and sexual selection in fish for my PhD and applied to three programs.
What is the most bodged piece of equipment you have had to use during field/labwork – did it work?
I used a salad spinner to spin down a plate during DNA extractions. It worked!
In one sentence what is your PhD about?
The behavioural and genomic consequences of interspecific reproductive and aggressive interactions in darters.
What has been your academic highlight of the last year?
Learning how to assemble and annotate a genome and getting some of my dissertation chapters published.
What has been your favourite conference so far – why?
I really enjoyed the 2017 Evolution conference. A that time I was just starting to develop some genomic tools for my study species. I saw a lot of great talks on population genomics that inspired me to ask new interesting questions in my system.
What hours do you typically work?
I work best when I have a structured schedule, so I try to stick to a 9-5 workday, but there are definitely plenty of busy weeks where I work later in the evening to get reading/grading/lab work done.
What do you do when you’re not working – how do you balance it with your PhD?
Time management and making time for a social life is really important. We are lucky to have a great grad student group here at UIUC and we organise a lot of fun social events like happy hour and group hiking trips. If your program doesn’t have a grad student-run social organisation already I would highly recommend starting one!
If a genie could grant you one wish to help with your PhD what would you wish for?
A longer breeding season and shorter generation time for my study species.
What would be your dream job?
My goal is to get a tenure-track faculty position at an R1 university where I can conduct research and teach.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Hopefully with a job!
Do you have a favourite organism?
Definitely cats. I have two Siamese cats, Mali and Maisy.
How often do you meet with your supervisor?
We typically have a scheduled meeting once a week during the semester and just set up meetings as needed during the summer.
Are there any social interactions/meetings which have enhanced your PhD experience?
Our graduate student organisation, GEEB (Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), organises a graduate student research symposium every year. We usually hold the symposium during interview weekend so prospective students can see some of the projects that current grad students are working on at UIUC. Through GEEB we also hold a weekly student seminar series called “EcoLunch” where students can give practice talks or get feedback on writing. EcoLunch provides a great opportunity to get informal feedback from your peers.
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