Academic Positions
Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Jan 2013—present
Professor of Biology and Curator of Invertebrates, Harvard University, Jan 2007—present
Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Curator of Invertebrates, Harvard University, Jan 2004—Dec 2006
Assistant Professor of Biology and Assistant Curator of Invertebrates, Harvard University, Jan 2000—Dec 2003
Other Academic Affiliations
Research Associate, American Museum of Natural History (2008-present)
Research Associate, The Field Museum of Natural History (2011-present)
Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco (since 2012)
Visiting Professor, Capital Normal University, Beijing (2011-2014)
Academic Training
Universitat de Barcelona, B.S., Faculty of Biology (1988-1993)
Universitat de Barcelona, Ph.D., Department of Animal Biology (1993-1997)
American Museum of Natural History, Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Dpt. Invertebrate Zool. (Aug. 1997-Dec. 1999)
Honors and Awards
Major Scientific Societies:
President, International Society for Invertebrate Morphology (2011—2014)
Vice-President, Sociedad Española de Malacología (2011—2014)
President, The Willi Hennig Society (2102—2014)
Major Extramural Grants:
NSF DEB #1144417: Collaborative Research: ARTS: Taxonomy and systematics of selected Neotropical clades of arachnids (2012-2014)
NSF DEB #0844881: Collaborative Research: Resolving old questions in Mollusc phylogenetics with new EST data and developing general phylogenomic tools (2009-2012)
French National Research Council: BIONEOCAL—Endemism in New Caledonia: a phylogenetic and population-level study of its origins (2008-2010)
NSF #DEB-0732903: Collaborative Research: AToL: Phylogeny on the half-shell--Assembling the Bivalve Tree of Life (2007-2013)
MarCraig Memorial Fund Grant: “A search for species-level characters within the phylum Sipuncula and an examination of within species genetic variability among disjunct populations” (2006-2007)
NSF #EF-0531757: AToL: Collaborative Proposal: Assembling the Protostome Tree of Life (2006-2008)
ABRS: Systematics of Australian scutigeromorph centipedes and the phylogeny of the Scutigeromorpha based on morphological and molecular data (PI: G.D. Edgecombe, Australian Museum) (2005-2008)
NSF DEB-0508789 DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Phylogeography of Rakaia denticulata (Arachnida, Opiliones, Cyphophthalmi) in the South Island of New Zealand (2005-2006)
NSF #EF-0334932: Collaborative Proposal: Assembling the Tree of Life, An Integrated approach to the origin and diversification of Protostomes (2004-2005)
NSF #0328644 “PEET: Systematics and monography of araneoid spiders” (PI: G. Hormiga, The George Washington University) (2004-2009)
NSF #0236871: “Systematics, Biogeography and Evolutionary Radiations of the Cyphophthalmi” (2003-2006)
SNF (Denmark): “Phylogeography of Cycliophora” (PI: P. Funch, Aarhus University) (2003-2005)
MarCraig Memorial Fund Grant: “Developing Taxonomic Expertise in the Sipuncula” (2002-2004)
NASA: “Numerical and Computational Techniques in Phylogenetic Analysis” (2000)
Harvard and MCZ Funding:
Tozier Fund for “Acquiring and underwater photo system for OEB51” (2011)
Clark/Cook Fund: “Upgrading darwin.oeb.harvard.edu, a Beowulf cluster for phylogenetic studies” (2005)
Tozier Fund for improvement in audiovisual aids in class (2002)
Clark Fund: “Expanding darwin, a multiprocessor computer for evolutionary studies” (2001)
Putnam Grants for Field Work:
Exploring the South African pettalid diversity (2011)
Into the Heart of Darkness—in search of the rarest of the rare (2008)
Collecting Sri Lankan Pettalidae: key taxon for a biogeographical and phylogenetic study of a temperate Gondwanan family of daddy long legs (2004)
Collecting New Zealand Pettalidae for a biogeographical and phylogenetic study (2002)
Collecting Gondwanan Cyphophthalmi for a biogeographical and phylogenetic study (2001)
Other External Funding:
Australian Museum Research Centre Fellowship: “Molecular Systematics of Myriapods”, (1999)
Grant-in-Aid, Bermuda Biological Station for Research (1998, 2002)
Fellowships:
NASA Postdoctoral Fellowship, AMNH (1999)
Lerner Gray Research Fellowship, AMNH (1997, 1998)
Pre-doc Fellowship, Ministry of Science and Education (MEC, Spain) (1996, 1997)
Pre-doc CIRIT Fellowship, Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain (1995)
Teaching Awards:
Harvard University Graduate Students Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award (2002)
Nominated for the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize (2008, 2010)
Professional Service
University Committees:
Faculty Director of the sequencing facility, FAS Center for Systems Biology 2012—
FAS Commission of Inquiry 2009—
Graduate Policy Committee (Harvard University) 2010—
Chair of Search Committee for Marine Invertebrates position in OEB 2010
Director of Undergraduate Studies/Head Tutor (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology) 2009—2010
OEB Executive Committee 2009—2010
Life Sciences Executive Committee 2009—2010
Committee for Undergraduate Education (Biology) 2002—2007
Committee for Undergraduate Education (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology) 2006—2010
OEB curriculum Committee 2005—2010
Ernst Mayr Awards committee 2003—
Search committee for EvoDevo positions, OEB 2005, 2006
Panels of Funding Organizations:
National Science Foundation (2001, 2004, 2005, 2009)
Academy of Finland, Research Council for Environmental and Natural Resources
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) (2007)
External Advisory Committee to the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History (2008—present)
Council of the Willi Hennig Society (2002—2005, 2009—present)
Associate Editor of:
Marine Ecology (2008—present)
Publications of the Museum of Comparative Zoology (2008—present)
Invertebrate Systematics (2009—present)
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2002—2006)
International Journal of Zoology (2008—2010)
Editorial Board of:
Amici Molluscarum (2011—present)
Graellsia: Revista del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Madrid (2003—present)
Invertebrate Biology (2004—present)
Invertebrate Systematics (2006—2008)
Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research (2001—present)
Malacologia (2008—present)
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (2007—present)
Organisms, Diversity & Evolution (2001—2006, 2010—present)
Zoologica Scripta (2005—present)
Zoomorphology (2010—present)
Advisory Board of:
Iberus: Revista de la Sociedad Española de Malacología
Associate Editor for selected papers for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA
Reviewer of Journals and Volumes (only main Journals listed):
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society; Cladistics; Current Biology; Evolution & Development; Invertebrate Biology; Journal of Arachnology; Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the U.K.; Journal of Molluscan Studies; Journal of Zoology; Marine Biology; Marine Ecology Progress Series; Molecular Biology and Evolution; Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution; Nature; Organisms, Diversity & Evolution; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences US; Proceedings of the Royal Society; Science; Systematic Biology; Systematics and Biodiversity; Trends in Ecology and Evolution; Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society; Zoologischer Anzeiger; Zoology
Organizer:
2nd International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, Cambridge, MA (USA), 20-23 June 2011
Organizer, Symposium on:
Current advances in Metazoan Diversity and Evolution, Hennig XXI, Helsinki (Finland), 12-15 August 2002
Molecular Systematics, Hennig XXVII, Tucumán (Argentina), 28-31 November 2008
Bivalve Systematics, World Congress of Malacology, Phuket (Thailand), 18-24 July 2010
Arachnid Systematics, III Congreso Latinoamericano de Aracnología, Montenegro (Colombia), 4-9 December 2011
Phylogenomics, XXXI Willi Hennig Meeting, Riverside, CA (USA), 23-27 June 2012
Co-organizer:
X Congreso Nacional de Malacología, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, 1994
III European Meeting of Ph.D. Students on Evolutionary Biology, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain, 1997
One day symposium on numerical Cladistics, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 1998
Scientific Committee:
International Congress on Bivalvia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain, 22-27 July 2006
Teaching
Listed Courses Taught at Harvard:
Biology 187: Current Advances in Metazoan Diversity and Evolution, Spring 2001, Fall 2002
Biology 181: Systematics, Spring 2002 (with Charles Marshall)
OEB 181: Systematics, Fall 2003, 2006, 2008 (with Charles Marshall), Fall 2005 (with Scott Edwards), Fall 2010
BS 53: Evolution, Diversity and History of Life, Spring 2004 (with John Wakeley and Donald Pfister)
Biology 91r: Morphology, Evolution and Systematics of Abyssal Fauna, Spring 2004
OEB 110: The Biology and Evolution of Invertebrate Animals, Spring 2005, Spring 2006
OEB 51: The Biology and Evolution of Invertebrate Animals, Spring 2007, 2011 (with Cassandra Extavour), 2012 (with Cassandra Extavour), 2013
OEB 10: The Biology and Evolution of Invertebrate Animals, Spring 2009 (with Cassandra Extavour), 2010 (with Cassandra Extavour)
OEB 141: Biogeography, Spring 2010, Spring 2012
Other Courses:
Filogenias moleculares, teoría y práctica, Universidad de Tucumán, Argentina, September 2001
Theory and Practice of Direct Optimization using POY, American Museum of Natural History, May 2005
Ninth International Workshop in Phylogenetic Methods, The Ohio State University, 12-17 July 2009
Single lectures, or short courses and classes taught at Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), New York University, New Mexico State University, University of Helsinki (Finland), Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia), Universidad de Granada (Spain), Universidad de Aveiro (Portugal)
Advising
Graduate Students (Main advisor):
Akiko Okusu (PhD 2003)
Sarah L. Boyer (PhD 2007)
Stephanie W. Aktipis (PhD 2009)
Gretchen Goodbody (PhD 2009; co-advised with R. Woollacott)
Ronald Clouse (PhD 2010)
Sebastián Vélez (PhD 2011)
Prashant Sharma (PhD 2012)
Vanessa Gonzalez (PhD)
Christopher Laumer (PhD)
Alicia Rodríguez Pérez-Porro (PhD; co-advised with M.J. Uriz, CEAB Blanes, Spain)
Beka Buckman (PhD)
Undergraduate Students (Research Advisor):
Burnett F. King (2001—2003)
Jared Feinmann (2001—2004)
Prashant Pradeep Sharma (2003—2006)
Daria Hinz (2003—2004)
Jessica Baker (2005—2006)
Alicia Hurley (2006)
Emily Bohem (2007—2009)
Alex Kim (2009—present)
Emily Burke (2012—present)
Postgraduate Students (Research Advisor):
Joey Pakes (2005—2007)
Ligia Benavides (2005—2006)
Prashant Pradeep Sharma (2006—2007)
Jessica Baker (2006—2007)
Postdoctoral Advisees:
Akiko Okusu (2004—2005)
Anja Schulze (2002—2004)
Martin V. Sørensen (2004—2005)
Lars Vogt (2004—2005)
Noemí Guil-López (2005—2008)
Ui Wook Hwang (2006—2007)
Gisele Kawauchi (2006—2012)
Jerome Murienne (2006—2007; 2008—2010)
Benjamin de Bivort (2007—2008)
Sónia Andrade (2008—2011)
Varpu Vahtera (2009—2011)
Ana Riesgo (2009—2011)
Marta Novo (2010—2011)
Alexander Ziegler (2011—2012)
Sarah Lemer (2012—present)
Rosa Fernández (2012—present)
Sebastian Kvist (2012—present)
Visiting Researchers:
Luis Espinasa, visiting scholar, Universidad de Morelos (Mexico) (fall 2001)
Sandra Duran, Ph.D. candidate, Universitat de Barcelona (fall 2002, spring 2003)
Sandra Duran, Postdoctoral visitor (spring 2004)
Matthias Obst, Ph.D. candidate, University of Aarhus, Denmark (fall 2003, spring 2004)
Peter Funch, Associate Profesor of Biology, University of Aarhus, Denmark (fall 2003)
Benjamin L. de Bivort, MCB rotation student (2003)
Jordi Paps, Ph.D. candidate, Universitat de Barcelona (spring 2004)
Lara Lopardo, Ph.D. committee, The George Washington University (fall 2004)
Fernando Álvarez, Ph.D. committee, The George Washington University (fall 2004, spring 2006)
Eduardo Mateos, Universitat de Barcelona (spring 2006)
Julia Sigwart, Ph.D. candidate, Dublin University (spring 2006, fall 2006)
Isabel Calderón, Ph.D. candidate, Universitat de Barcelona (fall 2006)
Indika Karunarathna, MSc., University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka (fall 2007-spring 2008)
Néstor Ardila, Ph.D. candidate, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (fall 2008)
Sónia Andrade, Postdoctoral Researcher Smithsonian Institution (fall 2008)
Marta Novo, Ph.D. candidate, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain (fall 2009)
Juan Junoy, Professor on sabbatical, Universidad de Alcalá, Spain (2009—2010)
Alejandro Martínez, Ph.D. Candidate, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (spring 2012)
Savel Daniels, Associate Professor, Univ. Stellenbosch, South Africa (2012)
Students from Institutions other than Harvard:
Annie Lindgren, (M.Sc. 2004), New Mexico State University
Karl Jarvis, (M.Sc. 2005), Brigham Young University
Julián Bueno Villegas, (Ph.D. 2007), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Lara Lopardo (Ph.D. 2009), The George Washington University
Fernando Álvarez Padilla (Ph.D. 2007), The George Washington University
Louise Crowley, Ph.D. committee, Columbia University-American Museum of Natural History
Néstor Ardila, Ph.D. candidate, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia (Fall 2008)
Meetings and Conferences
Invited Lectures (selected ones since 2000)
Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution seminar series, MBL, Woods Hole, 19 May 2000
IX Congreso Ibérico de Entomología, Zaragoza (Spain), 4-8 July 2000
Fifth Meeting of the Nordic Phylogenetic Systematics Network, Univ. Helsinki (Finland), 31 Aug - 3 Sep 2000
VIII Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, Århus (Denmark), 20-25 August 2001
III Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografía, Mendoza (Argentina), 10-12 September 2001
II International Congress of the European Malacological Societies, Universidad de Vigo (Spain), 9-13 September 2002
Brigham Young University Seminar Series, Provo, UT, October 2002
German Zoological Society Annual Meeting, Humboldt University, Berlin (Germany), 9-13 June 2003
IV Encontro de Aracnólogos do Cone Sul, São Pedro (Brazil), 7-12 December 2003
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá (Colombia), November 2004
Harvard University HILS symposium 2005, 8 October 2005
IV International Congress of the European Malacological Societies, Naples (Italy), 10-14 October 2005
Naples Zoological Station Seminar Series, Naples (Italy), 11 October 2005
OSU Mathematical Biology Institute ‘The Problems of Phylogenetic Analysis of Large Trees’, Columbus, OH, 1-2 Dec. 2005
Sessions de la Institució Catalana d’Historia Natural, closing conference, Barcelona (Spain), 23 May 2006
Special Seminar Series, Bogor University, Bogor (Indonesia), 5 June 2006
XIV Simposio Ibérico de Estudios de Biología Marina, Inaugural talk, Barcelona (Spain), 12-15 September 2006
Department of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology (tenure talk), 5 October 2006
Distinguished Lecture Series, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1 December 2006
Field Museum of Natural History seminar series, Chicago, 31 January 2007
The Royal Society: The evolution of the animals: a Linnean tercentenary celebration, London, 18-19 June 2007
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, 9 November 2007
I Congreso Nacional de Biodiversidad, Segovia, Spain, 12-14 November 2007
CEAB seminar series, CSIC, Blanes, Spain, 13 March 2008
Universidade de Vigo seminar series, Vigo, Spain, 6 May 2008
Universitat de Barcelona, 25th Anniversary of the Biology building seminar series, Barcelona, 13 May 2008
The Ohio State University, Evolution of Genomes and Origin of Species Symposium, Columbus, OH, 10 November 2008
University of California, Riverside, Department of Entomology Seminar Series, Riverside, CA, 12 January 2009
Northeastern University, Department of Biology Seminar Series, Boston, MA, 9 March 2009
Brown University, Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Seminar Series, Providence, RI, 7 April 2009
Congreso Ibérico de Ciencias del Mar, Vigo, Spain, 27-30 April 2009
American Malacological Society, 75th Annual Meeting, Ithaca, NY, 19-23 July 2009
XXVI Jornadas de la Asociación Española de Entomología, Universidad de Granada, Spain, 12-15 September 2009
Uppsala University Seminar Series, 25 September 2009
18th International Congress of Arachnology, University Podlasie, Siedlce, Poland, 11-17 July 2010
IX Reunión Argentina de Cladística y Biogeografía, La Plata, Argentina, 15-17 November 2010
Jornades de l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, Spain, 11 July 2011
Universidad Nacional del Estado de Hidalgo, Pachuca de Soto, Mexico, 20-21 September 2011
Named distinguished visiting Professor, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia, October 2011
I Congreso Ibérico de Sistemática Animal, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, 17-19 January 2012
Parc de Recerca Biologica de Barcelona, 5 March 2012
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Amazonicas, Manaus, Brazil, 30 May 2012
Phylopizza, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., 11 September 2012
Biology seminar Series, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., 12 September 2012
Boston University Biology Seminar Series, Boston, 17 September 2012
XI International Congress on Medical and Applied Malacology, Universidad Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 25-29 September 2012
Contributed Presentations in Scientific Meetings (more than 100 presentations); main meetings listed here:
15th European Colloquium of Arachnology, Ceske Budejovice (Czech Republic), 11-15 July 1994
XIIIth Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, Copenhagen (Denmark), 23-26 August 1994
XIIIth International Congress of Arachnology, Genève (Switzerland), 3-8 September 1995
International symposium on the Relationships of Major Arthropod Groups, London (U.K.), 17-19 April 1996
Molecules & Morphology in Systematics, Paris (France), 24-28 March 1997
XVIth Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, Washington D.C., 24-26 October 1997
World Congress of Malacology, Washington D.C., 25-30 July 1998
XVIIth Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, Sao Paulo (Brazil), 21-25 September 1998
9th Annual New England Molecular Evolutionary Biologists Meeting, NYU, New York, 30 October 1998
Evolution’99, Madison, Wisconsin, 22-26 June 1999
XVIIIth Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, Göttingen (Germany), 12-17 September 1999
XV International Congress of Arachnology, Baadplas (South Africa), March 2001
SICB 2002, Anaheim, CA (USA), 2-6 January 2002
XXI Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, Helsinki (Finland), 12-15 August 2002
XXII Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, New York (USA), 20-24 July 2003
IV Encontro de Aracnólogos do Cone Sul, São Pedro (Brazil), 7-12 December 2003
World Congress of Malacology, Perth (Australia), 11-16 July 2004
16th International Congress of Arachnology, Ghent (Belgium), 2-7 August 2004
XXIV Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, Fagernes (Norway), 26-28 July 2005
SICB 2006, Orlando, FL (USA), 4-8 January 2006
International Congress on Bivalvia, Bellaterra (Spain), 23-25 July 2006
XXVI Meeting of the Willi Hennig Society, New Orleans, 28 July-2 August 2007
17th International Congress of Arachnology, São Pedro (Brazil), 5-10 August 2007
1st International Congress on Invertebrate Morphology, Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen (Denmark), 17-21 August 2008
Hennig XXVII, Tucumán (Argentina), 28-31 November 2008
SICB 2009, Boston, MA (USA), 3-7 January 2009
Hennig XXIX, Honolulu, Hawaii, May 2010
18th International Congress of Arachnology, University Podlasie, Siedlce, Poland, 11-17 July 2010
World Congress of Malacology, Phuket, Thailand, July 2010
III Congreso Latinoamericano de Aracnología, Montenegro (Colombia), 4-9 December 2011
I Congreso Ibérico de Sistemática Animal, Madrid (Spain), 17-19 January 2012
XXXI Willi Hennig Meeting, Riverside, CA (USA), 23-27 June 2012