Current Lab Members
Sebrina Brooks (she/her)
PhD student
Fall 2025 -
BS, UNC Wilmington 2024
Sebrina is interested in understanding how human pollutants affect the reproductive success and adaptive responses of organisms. In her undergraduate honor’s research, Sebrina evaluated the co-evolutionary relationship between the parasitic nematode genus Crassicauda and their marine mammal hosts, while contributing novel Crassicauda sequences to the literature. In addition to this work, she has used PCR techniques to track SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, investigated cetacean gastrointestinal microbiomes, did field observations/museum specimen preparations in Ornithology, and animal perfusions/dissections for brain tissue preservation. Sebrina also loves to bake, read, hike, and play tennis. She is excited to join the Safran Lab and address her future questions in the Barn Swallow system!
PhD student
Fall 2025 -
BS, UNC Wilmington 2024
Sebrina is interested in understanding how human pollutants affect the reproductive success and adaptive responses of organisms. In her undergraduate honor’s research, Sebrina evaluated the co-evolutionary relationship between the parasitic nematode genus Crassicauda and their marine mammal hosts, while contributing novel Crassicauda sequences to the literature. In addition to this work, she has used PCR techniques to track SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater, investigated cetacean gastrointestinal microbiomes, did field observations/museum specimen preparations in Ornithology, and animal perfusions/dissections for brain tissue preservation. Sebrina also loves to bake, read, hike, and play tennis. She is excited to join the Safran Lab and address her future questions in the Barn Swallow system!
Dr. Gina Calabrese (she/her)
BS University of Texas, Austin 2010
MS University of Texas, Austin 2014
PhD UNC - Chapel Hill 2022
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
Sept 2022 –
Gina is interested in the evolution of behavior and how behavioral traits contribute to adaptation and speciation. This line of inquiry has led her to work on a variety of topics including sensory ecology, reinforcement, and how mating signals are responding to climate change. Her PhD in Karin Pfennig’s lab at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill focused on the evolution of male signals and female preferences among populations of Mexican Spadefoot Toads subject to varying environments and levels of reinforcement and introgression. In the Safran lab she will be investigating how migration behavior contributes to speciation, including broad phylogenetic patterns and the genomic signatures of divergence across migratory divides in Barn Swallows. We are very excited to collaborate with Kira Delmore (TAMU) and Jochen Wolf (LMU Munich) on this work.
Gina also has have extensive experience and professional development in evidence-based and inclusive teaching in Biology. While taking a break from classroom teaching during her postdoc, Gina is currently seeking undergraduate collaborators for the migration projects, so please get in touch if you are interested in migration, comparative phylogenetics, and/or field work with Barn Swallows! On a personal note, Gina loves birding and observing wildlife; dogs, hiking, gardening, and Texas. You can read more about her work at her website.
BS University of Texas, Austin 2010
MS University of Texas, Austin 2014
PhD UNC - Chapel Hill 2022
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
Sept 2022 –
Gina is interested in the evolution of behavior and how behavioral traits contribute to adaptation and speciation. This line of inquiry has led her to work on a variety of topics including sensory ecology, reinforcement, and how mating signals are responding to climate change. Her PhD in Karin Pfennig’s lab at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill focused on the evolution of male signals and female preferences among populations of Mexican Spadefoot Toads subject to varying environments and levels of reinforcement and introgression. In the Safran lab she will be investigating how migration behavior contributes to speciation, including broad phylogenetic patterns and the genomic signatures of divergence across migratory divides in Barn Swallows. We are very excited to collaborate with Kira Delmore (TAMU) and Jochen Wolf (LMU Munich) on this work.
Gina also has have extensive experience and professional development in evidence-based and inclusive teaching in Biology. While taking a break from classroom teaching during her postdoc, Gina is currently seeking undergraduate collaborators for the migration projects, so please get in touch if you are interested in migration, comparative phylogenetics, and/or field work with Barn Swallows! On a personal note, Gina loves birding and observing wildlife; dogs, hiking, gardening, and Texas. You can read more about her work at her website.
Sara Garcia (she/her, they/them)
PhD candidate
Fall 2021 -
NSF Graduate Fellow
BS, double major in Biology and English
Wooster College, 2019
Sara joined the lab in Fall 2021. As an undergraduate student, she majored in both Biology and English. Her senior project was an art-science integration of the visual ecology of grasshoppers as well as satiric writing about lab culture. Sara spent the past two years as an AmeriCorps volunteer and academic coach for STEM and English high school students in Chicago. She loves baking, reading, and writing!
PhD candidate
Fall 2021 -
NSF Graduate Fellow
BS, double major in Biology and English
Wooster College, 2019
Sara joined the lab in Fall 2021. As an undergraduate student, she majored in both Biology and English. Her senior project was an art-science integration of the visual ecology of grasshoppers as well as satiric writing about lab culture. Sara spent the past two years as an AmeriCorps volunteer and academic coach for STEM and English high school students in Chicago. She loves baking, reading, and writing!
Maxima Gomez-Palmer (she/her)
PhD student
Fall 2026 -
Alfred P. Sloan Scholar
BS Carleton College 2026
Maxima is passionate about moving beyond an anthropocentric perspective to understand the sensory ecology of birds (particularly visual and auditory perception) and how anthropogenic activity may influence fitness-relevant physiological and behavioral traits. She hopes this understanding can inform swallow conservation strategies. In her doctoral research, Maxima aims to investigate how physiological and perceptual shifts scale up to changes in individual behavior, and ultimately to shifts in population abundance and phenotype.
She's no stranger to the bird world, from researching avian gut microbiome-plumage phenotype links in common yellowthroats at SUNY Buffalo, to Egyptian vulture behavioral ecology as an NSF REU intern in Spain, to her distinction-earning senior thesis at Carleton on vultures' crucial role in disease ecology.
Maxima is thrilled to join the Safran Lab and pursue her questions in the barn swallow system. When she's not hiding in bushes to photograph birds, Maxima enjoys playing tennis & piano, knitting, and biking
PhD student
Fall 2026 -
Alfred P. Sloan Scholar
BS Carleton College 2026
Maxima is passionate about moving beyond an anthropocentric perspective to understand the sensory ecology of birds (particularly visual and auditory perception) and how anthropogenic activity may influence fitness-relevant physiological and behavioral traits. She hopes this understanding can inform swallow conservation strategies. In her doctoral research, Maxima aims to investigate how physiological and perceptual shifts scale up to changes in individual behavior, and ultimately to shifts in population abundance and phenotype.
She's no stranger to the bird world, from researching avian gut microbiome-plumage phenotype links in common yellowthroats at SUNY Buffalo, to Egyptian vulture behavioral ecology as an NSF REU intern in Spain, to her distinction-earning senior thesis at Carleton on vultures' crucial role in disease ecology.
Maxima is thrilled to join the Safran Lab and pursue her questions in the barn swallow system. When she's not hiding in bushes to photograph birds, Maxima enjoys playing tennis & piano, knitting, and biking
Marin Hugge (she/her)
undergraduate EBIO department
Marin is a sophomore EBIO major with a pre-health designation. She hopes to go to medical school and eventually work in wilderness medicine. She is particularly interested in genetics and wetland ecology. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, sculpting, and cooking/baking.
undergraduate EBIO department
Marin is a sophomore EBIO major with a pre-health designation. She hopes to go to medical school and eventually work in wilderness medicine. She is particularly interested in genetics and wetland ecology. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, sculpting, and cooking/baking.
Marcella Marshall (she/her)
Undergraduate EBIO Department
Marcella is a sophomore in the EBIO department. She aspires to be a field biologist working for conservation of species in and around national parks. She strives to mitigate the effects of human pollutants in our ecosystems. In her free time, she enjoys practicing with the free ski team, reading, and hanging out with friends. She is excited to join the lab in the field during summer 2026!
Undergraduate EBIO Department
Marcella is a sophomore in the EBIO department. She aspires to be a field biologist working for conservation of species in and around national parks. She strives to mitigate the effects of human pollutants in our ecosystems. In her free time, she enjoys practicing with the free ski team, reading, and hanging out with friends. She is excited to join the lab in the field during summer 2026!
Gael McCutchan (he/him)
Undergraduate EBIO Department
Gael is an undergratuate in the EBIO department looking to graduate in 2028. He is most interested in population and community ecology, especially migratory patterns in birds and parisite-host interactions. He is looking to complete an honors thesis and eventually go into research as a career. In his free time he enjoys birdwatching, painting, and playing video games.
Undergraduate EBIO Department
Gael is an undergratuate in the EBIO department looking to graduate in 2028. He is most interested in population and community ecology, especially migratory patterns in birds and parisite-host interactions. He is looking to complete an honors thesis and eventually go into research as a career. In his free time he enjoys birdwatching, painting, and playing video games.
Dr. Rebecca Safran (she/her)
Professor
BS University of Michigan 1991
MS Humboldt State University 1997
PhD Cornell University 2005
The role of adaptation in shaping phenotypic variation within and among closely related populations is a central theme in my research program. As an evolutionary ecologist, I am interested in the biological causes and consequences of variation in phenotype using molecular, comparative, and experimental methods. By adopting new comparative approaches (both empirical and synthetic), my current work is focused on determining how trait function affects patterns of gene flow. We are currently establishing new methods to test hypotheses about the relative contributions of geographic distance, history, natural and sexual selection in the evolution of reproductive isolation.
My research group takes advantage of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica species complex, a highly tractable, widespread and diverse study system. By conducting experiments and long-term studies both locally and across the breeding range of this young and monophyletic species complex, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic variation from proximate (mechanistic) and functional (evolutionary) perspectives and how these affect patterns of gene flow and the evolution of reproductive isolation.
In all of our research endeavors, my research group integrates behavioral, physiological and genetic perspectives. As such, my lab is set up to conduct a variety of molecular, physiological, and endocrinological assays, and we also possess various tools for objectively measuring phenotypic variation. Presently, we conduct all of our empirical research on wild populations in the field, where experimental and comparative work are complemented by several molecular investigations in the lab.
Read more about our current research throughout this website and by taking a look here and also here.
Professor
BS University of Michigan 1991
MS Humboldt State University 1997
PhD Cornell University 2005
The role of adaptation in shaping phenotypic variation within and among closely related populations is a central theme in my research program. As an evolutionary ecologist, I am interested in the biological causes and consequences of variation in phenotype using molecular, comparative, and experimental methods. By adopting new comparative approaches (both empirical and synthetic), my current work is focused on determining how trait function affects patterns of gene flow. We are currently establishing new methods to test hypotheses about the relative contributions of geographic distance, history, natural and sexual selection in the evolution of reproductive isolation.
My research group takes advantage of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica species complex, a highly tractable, widespread and diverse study system. By conducting experiments and long-term studies both locally and across the breeding range of this young and monophyletic species complex, we aim to gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic variation from proximate (mechanistic) and functional (evolutionary) perspectives and how these affect patterns of gene flow and the evolution of reproductive isolation.
In all of our research endeavors, my research group integrates behavioral, physiological and genetic perspectives. As such, my lab is set up to conduct a variety of molecular, physiological, and endocrinological assays, and we also possess various tools for objectively measuring phenotypic variation. Presently, we conduct all of our empirical research on wild populations in the field, where experimental and comparative work are complemented by several molecular investigations in the lab.
Read more about our current research throughout this website and by taking a look here and also here.
Eileen Tabora (he/him)
Undergraduate EBIO Department
Eileen is an undergraduate student majoring in EBIO with minors in Sociology and Art Practices. While he is currently working on a project involving snowshoe hare molt phenology in the McCain Mountain Lab, ornithological research has been a major interest of his as well. He is generally interested in bird/mammal responses to climate change, sexual systems, and wildlife rehabilitation. In his free time, Eileen enjoys playing bass, drawing, playing video games, and being outside!
Undergraduate EBIO Department
Eileen is an undergraduate student majoring in EBIO with minors in Sociology and Art Practices. While he is currently working on a project involving snowshoe hare molt phenology in the McCain Mountain Lab, ornithological research has been a major interest of his as well. He is generally interested in bird/mammal responses to climate change, sexual systems, and wildlife rehabilitation. In his free time, Eileen enjoys playing bass, drawing, playing video games, and being outside!
