معرفی
Rebecca Safran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on the evolution of biodiversity, mechanisms of trait evolution, and population genomics, examining the interface between fine-scale within-population dynamics and their consequences across closely related populations.
Dr. Safran received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2005. Her educational background has provided a strong foundation for her interdisciplinary research that bridges ecology, evolution, and genomics.
As an evolutionary biologist, Dr. Safran's research interests center on understanding how biodiversity evolves. Her lab group investigates the physiological, behavioral, ecological, and climate factors that influence genomic divergence among closely related populations. With a primary focus on barn swallows, her work spans multiple scales of analysis to directly examine the mechanisms involved in the speciation process. She combines experimental and comparative approaches to explore relationships between individual-level variation and larger-scale patterns within and among populations.
Dr. Safran's recent publications reveal a strong focus on speciation mechanisms, particularly through sexual selection and reproductive isolation in barn swallows. Her research integrates genomics, behavioral ecology, and climate change impacts, with increasing attention to urban ecology and citizen science applications. The interdisciplinary nature of her work is evident in publications that bridge traditional biological disciplines with environmental communication and education.
- NSF CAREER award
- Multiple National Science Foundation research grants
Dr. Safran leads the Safran Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder, which is committed to creating an inclusive space for excellent science. She collaborates with Professors Max Boykoff (Environmental Studies) and Beth Osnes (Theatre and Dance) on "Inside the Greenhouse," a community engagement initiative focused on climate change communication. Her teaching includes a unique course on climate change and film-making where students create short films about climate change, as well as courses on evolution, speciation, and animal physiology in the General Biology series.
The Safran Lab examines ecological and evolutionary connections between phenotypic and genomic variation and their associated population-level patterns to study speciation. The lab is particularly interested in the evolution and maintenance of within-population variation (behavior, morphology, and genotype) and between-population patterns (social and genetic structure, reproductive isolation, phenotype divergence). All lab members are welcomed in this certified SAFE ZONE by the University of Colorado PRIDE Office.
