Author Archives: Danielle Whittaker

About Danielle Whittaker

Danielle J. Whittaker, Ph.D. Managing Director of BEACON

BEACON Researchers at Work: Investigating the dynamics of diversification in chipmunks

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is by University of Idaho graduate student Brice Sarver. Speciation, the set of processes through which new species arise, is one of the central areas of biological study.  It is easy, relatively speaking, … Continue reading →

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Third graders take action to save the striped hyena

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

Recently, MSU postdoc and BEACONite Aaron Wagner received a call from a group of third graders at Riverside Elementary School in Oneonta, New York, asking to talk with him about how to save the striped hyena. Their teacher, Mr. Ken … Continue reading →

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Nutrition limitation’s role in phytoplankton evolution

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU graduate student Megan Larsen. We all know that the world is more complex than the simplified systems and questions we use in laboratories. And yet, as scientists we have … Continue reading →

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BEACON Researchers at Work: If Sticklebacks Could Talk…

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU postdoc Liliana Lettieri. “My what a red throat you have, and such a blue belly!  You’ve got some impressive dance moves, and you’ve built a nice nest.” If stickleback … Continue reading →

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Professional Scientist, Amateur Ambassador

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is by MSU graduate student Rosangela Canino-Koning.  “You study evolution? Oh, I don’t believe in that.” Virtually every new graduate student has experienced that flash of panic when confronted by a well-meaning relative, … Continue reading →

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BEACON scientists show how new viruses can evolve and become deadly

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

In the current issue of Science, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations. The scientists showed for the first time how … Continue reading →

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Developing interactive evolutionary computation for machine learning games

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is by University of Texas at Austin graduate student Igor Karpov. When thinking about parts of my work that are most relevant to BEACON, several topics come to mind simultaneously. To avoid making … Continue reading →

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Studying the evolution of sociality with real and digital hyenas

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work blog post is by MSU postdoc Aaron Wagner. The evolution of sociality is one of the most fascinating and productive topics in evolutionary biology. Though it is often very useful to look to social … Continue reading →

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BEACON Top-Up Recruiting Fellowships at MSU

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

Call for NominationsNew Graduate StudentBEACON Top-Up Recruiting Fellowships Sponsored byThe BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in ActionAn NSF Science and Technology Center  One goal of BEACON is to initiate and support research and training activities that involve the … Continue reading →

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BEACON Researchers at Work: Improving Biometric Security with Evolutionary Algorithms

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Danielle Whittaker

This week’s BEACON Researchers at Work post is by North Carolina A&T State University graduate student Aniesha Alford. We all remember the events that occurred on September 11, 2001. I was a sophomore in high school, and I can still … Continue reading →

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