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––2026––
The lab had a great first year 🎉
Here are just a few of the highlights: Margie and Collin both won several grants to support their dissertation research and presented their work at local symposia in Laramie and Fort Collins, CO. In the spring, Margie had a very productive first field season in southern Peru and Collin won an NSF GRF to support his Ph.D. work. Post-bacc researcher Sammy was instrumental in moving along lab work for our ongoing NSF-funded giant hummingbird research – she is now off to an awesome summer position at AMK Ranch in northern Wyoming. Undergrad Megan advanced work with our growing pollen collection for her Wildlife Management Internship. Jessie gave seminars in Montana, Florida, and Colorado and won a seed grant from UW WyldTech that will support new hummingbird movement research in Peru. Our work got recent press in the New York Times (on PFAS contamination of New Mexico waterfowl) and Ubuntu Magazine (on giant hummingbirds). Now, we're excited for summer research and our upcoming field season in Peru with University of Montana collaborators. Left: First lab photo! L to R: Collin, Jessie, Margie.
––2025––
The lab is NSF funded!
We've been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to study the physiological and genomic mechanisms underlying responses to hypoxia in giant hummingbirds. Research will include field experiments and museum collections growth in partnership with the Centro de Ornitología y Biodiversidad (CORBIDI) in Peru and Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado in Bolivia. The grant will support University of Wyoming undergraduates, graduate students, and a postdoc, as well as training of early career researchers in areas where we work. Read about our project in the UW press release.
Welcome to Margie and Collin!
Margie Hemp (left) and Collin Porter (right) start their doctoral degrees in the lab this fall. Collin joins us after finishing his B.A. at Northwestern University, with previous research on Andean birds at the Field Museum of Natural History and hybridizing Vermivora warblers with Penn State University. Margie earned her B.A. from Smith College and comes to the lab after a year of Fulbright Fellowship research on human-wildlife conflict with Andean Condors in Ecuador.
Jessie receives ASN Early Career Investigator Award
Jessie was awarded a 2025 Early Career Investigator Award from the American Society of Naturalists and presented a talk in the awards symposium at the Evolution Meeting in Athens, GA in June. A big highlight was getting to know the other awardees (L to R: Dr. Elizabeth Carlen, Dr. Anna Dewar, and Dr. Ashwini Ramesh; photo by Dr. Dan Bolnick) and spend time with the great folks of the ASN.
Chamba exitosa (successful field season) in Peru, Chile, and Bolivia
The team wrapped up a fantastic three-country field season focused on giant hummingbird movement, population genomics, and song evolution. It was a blast –– and incoming Ph.D. student Margie Hemp even joined us! Left: Margie and Emil Bautista mount a tracking device receiving station.
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