Emily Jane McTavish

Emily Jane McTavish is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Merced, within the School of Life & Environmental Sciences. Her research focuses on evolutionary biology, phylogenetics, and computational genomics. She leads the McTavish Lab, which develops tools for large-scale evolutionary inference and integrates genomic, phylogenetic, and biodiversity data. She holds a B.S. from McGill University (2006) and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas (2013).

Her research interests center on leveraging computational methods to address evolutionary questions using vast datasets. This includes developing pipelines for phylogenetic analysis and exploring the dynamics of diversification and introgression. She has contributed to open-source tools such as Physcraper and OpenTree, which facilitate the updating and analysis of phylogenetic trees.

While Emily’s own scientific awards are not explicitly listed, her students and collaborators have achieved notable recognition, including NSF GRFP Honorable Mentions and grants for research projects. The McTavish Lab has received support through the Intelligent Adaptive Systems National Research Training Grant and collaborations with institutions like JGI.

Emily advises several graduate students, including Lesly Lopez Fang, Jasper Toscani Field, and James Rosindell, among others. Her lab’s work has been published in journals like Systematic Biology and PLoS Genetics, and they maintain active collaborations on biodiversity informatics and phylogenetic tools.

The McTavish Lab is based at UC Merced’s SE1 282, and their projects include creating dynamic phylogenetic trees for birds and developing methods to map biodiversity using environmental DNA and Earth observation data.