Evolution and psychiatric disorders:One of my main goals has been to develop a deep understanding of modern evolutionary genetic theory and research, and to introduce those ideas into psychiatric genetics and evolutionary psychology. The effects of distal inbreeding on psychiatric disorders: Much of my current work involves testing whether psychiatric disorders show inbreeding depression. Inbreeding depression, which refers to reduced fitness among offspring of related parents, provides clues to the evolutionary genetics of traits. Development of methods to uncover the genetic architecture of traits: A final focus of my research has been the development of new behavioral genetic models that can help us better estimate causes of interpersonal differences. This ties in with my other research because the genetic architecture of traits (e.g., the level of genetic dominance) is influenced by the evolutionary factors that have shaped the trait ancestrally.
keywords
use of whole-genome SNP data for testing hypotheses related to human behavioral genetic variation and human evolution
IPHY 6010 - Seminar
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Presents special topics in integrative physiology. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
PSYC 2111 - Psychological Science I: Statistics
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2021
Three hours of lecture and one two-hour lab per week. Introduces descriptive and inferential statistics and their roles in psychological research. Topics include correlation, regression, T-test, analysis of variance and selected nonparametric statistics.
PSYC 4011 - Senior Thesis
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2021
Critically reviews some aspect of psychological literature, scholarly analysis of a major psychological issue, and/or empirical research project. See the psychology honors director for further information.
PSYC 5541 - Special Topics in Psychology
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
Studies and analyzes special interest topics from the broad and diversified field of psychology. Particular section content is determined by instructor. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours, provided the topics vary.
PSYC 7102 - Seminar: Behavioral Genetics
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Intensive study of selected topics in behavioral genetics. Emphasizes recent research. Attention to both human and animal studies. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours. Instructor consent required.
