
Population Genetics at UVM


People at the Nunez Lab

Principal Investigator
Joaquin C. B. Nunez (he/him)
Ph.D. Brown University
Sc.M. Brown University
B.Sc. University of Miami
I am a population geneticist interested in understanding the genetic basis of adaptation in rapidly changing ecosystems. Learn more about me by clicking here.

Ph.D. Candidate & GRFP Fellow
Andrew R. McCracken (he/him)
B.Sc. Wesleyan University
Andrew's research focuses on the adaptive responses of marine organisms to multifactorial stress in the context of global climate change. He uses echinoderms to investigate selection responses to thermal and immune stressors.
Co-Advised with Melissa Pespeni; Research Foci: Sea Urchins, Simulations. Member since 2023.

Undergraduate Researcher
Katelyn Sullivan
B.Sc. Student in Biology
Katelyn is a third-year undergraduate interested in researching the impact of climate change and ecosystem changes on marine systems. She will be investigating barnacle settlement dynamics and gene mutations in response to environmental changes.
Research Foci: Barnacles, Marine Ecology. Member since 2023.

Undergraduate Researcher
Eliza Bufferd (she/her)
B.Sc. Student in Biology
Eliza is a third-year undergraduate student interested in studying the effects of chromosomal inversions on adaptive evolution. She will be examining thermal tolerance in embryos of overwintering Drosophila.
Co-Advised with Brent Lockwood; Research Foci: Fruit flies, Inversions, thermal adaptation. Member since 2023.

Undergraduate Researcher
Miles Garvin (they/him)
B.Sc. Student in Biology
Miles is a third-year undergraduate interested in epigenetic changes resulting from environmental differences. They will be analyzing gene mutations and epigenetic differences in barnacle populations across various environments.
Research Foci: Barnacles; Computational Biology. Member since 2023.

Undergraduate Researcher
Luke Proud (he/him)
B.Sc. Student in Biology
Luke is a third-year undergraduate interested in learning more about evolutionary biology. He will be investigating the impact of seasonally oscillating chromosomal inversions in various feeding behaviors in flies.
Co-Advised with Molly Stanley; Research Foci: Fruit flies; Inversions, neuroscience. Member since 2023.

Guest Researcher
Gio Mazzeo
B.Sc. Student in Biology (UVA)
Giovanni Mazzeo is a guest researcher in the Nunez lab, being a second year undergraduate student at the University of Virginia.
UVA; co-advised with Alan O. Bergland. Research Foci: Computational Biology, simulations. Member since 2022.
Previous Trainees

David J. Bass
University of Virginia (2023)
B.S. Statistics and B.A. Math
Co-advised with Alan Bergland
Went on to pursue a PhD in Johns Hopkins University

David A. Ferranti
Brown University (2019)
Sc.B. Ecology and Evolution
Co-advised with David Rand
Went on to pursue a PhD in UCSD