Diego Ocampo
Postdoctoral Researcher (2022-2025), currently Staff Curator at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology
Diego has broad interest in understanding the evolutionary process that has led to diverse bird morphs and behaviors, especially in Neotropical birds. More specifically, Diego uses museum-based research and bioinformatic tools to look at the population structure, the genomic architecture of adaptive traits, as well as the behavioral and ecological factors that drive the divergence of phenotypes. Diego is currently focusing on the mode and tempo of trait evolution across the genus Sporophila.
Ashish Jha
Postdoctoral Researcher via Fullbright Fellowship (2024-2025), currently Scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India Dehradun
Ashish is a an Engineer turned Ornithologist. After his UG and PG in Biotechnology, Dr. Jha pursued a PhD in Ornithology. His doctoral research was centered on southern India endemic, and globally threatened, Yellow-throated Bulbul (Pycnonotus xantholaemus), more specifically the biogeographic history, population connectivity, and habitat suitability model of this species. Ashish has joined the Mason Lab on a 9-month Fullbright Fellowship and will be testing the core-periphery hypothesis with North American birds.
Melissa Salazar
Postbaccalaureate Scholar (2024-2025), currently PhD student at UT Arlington
Originally from Arlington, Texas, Melissa joined the Mason Lab via the NSF LAGniAppE program and studied trends in heavy metal contamination in King and Clapper Rails in Louisiana.
Subir B. Shakya
Postdoctoral Researcher (2020–2022), currently a postdoc at LMU München
Subir is interested in the genetic underpinnings of phenotypes (especially color) in birds. Subir is particularly interested in integrating genetic data with biochemical, ecological, morphological, and spatial data to get a much better understanding of the mechanisms of variation. He is also interested in the phylogeny, biogeography, and natural history of birds, particularly birds from the Old World.
Maggie P. MacPherson
Postdoctoral Researcher (2020–2022), currently an Assistant Professor at Trent University
Maggie studies what shapes species distributions, mainly in birds. They have a particular interest in improving our understanding of the drivers of range dynamics in migratory species. Their recent research includes building seasonal species distribution models using citizen science datasets and improving our ability to identify umbrella taxa and to understand what shapes ranges using Bayesian belief networks. Their ultimate research goal is to contribute to research that improves our ability to protect wildlife across rapidly changing landscapes by testing the relative roles of ecological and evolutionary processes that contribute to patterns in geographic range limits.
Anna Borne
Undergraduate Researcher, currently a DVM student at LSU
Anna is an undergraduate researcher who joined the Mason Lab with support from the LSU Discover Program. Anna is collecting and analyzing phenotypic data from our museum specimens, including collect morphological and color data on the Tit-like Dacnis (Xenodacnis parina).