Dr. Miles Roberts

Hey #Botany2025 folks -- Asia Hightower @puffballove.bsky.social will be talking about leaf shape G x E x Development in Capsella bursa-pastoris. Tuesday Jul 29 at 9:15 in Mesquite B!!

Screenshot of an email saying that NSF’s PGRP awardee meeting is canceled

Got this email today that NSF is canceling the annual meeting for plant genome research (PGRP) awardees. I’m really sad that I’ll miss out on this amazing networking opportunity :(

Hi #evol2025, our paper came out yesterday and I'd love to chat about it. We used an underused tool for studying parasite local adaptation, the Host Reciprocal Transplant, to study switchgrass and its fungal rust.

doi.org/10.1111/nph....

Environmental data provide marginal benefit for predicting climate adaptation Author summary Populations of natural and cultivated plant and animal populations will be affected by more extreme climate events such as drought and flooding in the future. We explore whether charact...

Proud to share my first first-author paper out this week!
Can we leverage environmental data from germplasm banks to improve climate adaptation in maize breeding? journals.plos.org/plosgenetics... (1/3)

Last lab presentation today! Grace Zhang will be talking about her chapter 2 work examining the context dependency of tolerance in common morning glory. Put it on your list, Grace always gives a great talk!

This was so much fun! A day of pop gen theory followed by an evening of big truck go VROOM!

A woman standing in front of a podium at a conference. The slide behind her has a quote by Margaret Mead that says "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
-Margaret Mead

Very inspired by @evophd.bsky.social's talk at #Evol2025 today! @ncse.bsky.social

A man at a podium delivering a talk during a conference. The slide behind him reads "Science depends on K-12 education", "we need to make ourselves available as resources to science educators", and "And we need to fight publicity to defend scince education at all levels".

"Science depends on K-12 education."

Kenneth Miller #Evol2025

The Scopes Symposium was excellent and timely.

k-mer-based diversity scales with population size proxies more than nucleotide diversity in a meta-analysis of 98 plant species Abstract. A key prediction of neutral theory is that the level of genetic diversity in a population should scale with population size. However, as was note

Hey, Miles' @milesroberts.bsky.social beautiful paper showing that sequence diversity missed by standard methods contributes to Lewontin's paradox is officially published in @evolletters.bsky.social. academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Grateful to be chosen by the Genetics and Genome Sciences program for the Outstanding Student Award alongside my friend @milesroberts.bsky.social
Huge thanks to my PI, Eric Patterson, and my committee member, Ning Jiang, for nominating me.

Four smiling scientists in graduation robes.

Lots of gloom this week but I'm so excited to be celebrating new Drs Pizza & Roberts with @lars-brudvig.bsky.social @rileypizza.bsky.social @milesroberts.bsky.social

a woman talking on a cell phone with the words " i 'd like to offer you a job " below her ALT: a woman talking on a cell phone with the words " i 'd like to offer you a job " below her

Crazy times, but I'll be advertising for a 2 year postdoc to work with me on new comp. methods to estimate evolutionary history soon - specifically to develop methods to handle missing data (e.g. ascertainment bias, allele dropout). Are you a comp. biologist graduating with a PhD soon? Reach out!

Congrats! 🎉

Sign up for GSA's Academic Writing Workshop with Carolyn Beans Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.

The first session is on May 7, at 1:30 pm EDT. Space is limited so sign up now: buff.ly/lpRvLNP

Find a full workshop schedule on the signup page!

2/2🧵

Dr. Riley Pizza presenting a dissertation on restoration seed sourcing

Dr. Riley Pizza signing a champagne cork dent in the ceiling

A signed champagne cork dent: RBP 2025

Congratulations Dr. @rileypizza.bsky.social!

Amazing seminar, fantastic defense, and well done adding a new (champagne cork) dent to the lab ceiling.

Congrats!!!!!!!

Life update

Join the conversation with incoming SSE President! Have thoughts about the future of evolutionary biology? Want to provide feedback on how the Society for the Study of Evolution can best serve its members? Join one of our guided chats with SSE President-Elect Regina Baucom! Upcoming Sessions: 4/4, 4/11, 4/25, 5/2, 5/23, 5/30 Where: Zoom (link provided upon RSVP) Who: SSE members of all career stages Topics include: Vision for SSE's future How SSE can best advocate for evolutionary biologists Ways to get involved in SSE, build community, & network! RSPV Now! https://forms.gle/ef6adb9rtUTHVoPv8

Are you a member of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE)? I'm holding zoom chats during which I will get your feedback and thoughts about what the society can do for you and for the field! Everyone is welcome to join -- sign up for a time and pls RT this!!

Thank you! 😄

Eduardo and I are teaching our 2nd version of this course in September 2025. Do join us, and share deets with your trainees.

Grass functional traits reflect the long history of fire and grazers in the savannas of Texas Premise Understanding relationships among grass traits, fire, and herbivores may help improve conservation strategies for savannas that are threatened by novel disturbance regimes. Emerging theory, ...

🔥🌾🦬New Pub in @botsocamerica.bsky.social ! We show that the flammability–palatability trade‐offs that operate in Africa also explain correlated suites of traits in #Texas #grasses.
@tamu.bsky.social
bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

I am thrilled to announce that I have accepted a postdoc offer to work with Dr. Sara Brownell at Arizona State University on a project to understand the challenges faculty face when implementing accommodations for students with disabilities. Excited to dig deeper into Biology Education research!🧪🏫♿

Viewpoint: Scientific research is not waste. Funding cuts will harm Michiganders, economy In 2024, over $1 billion in NIH funding went to Michigan, supporting $2.57 billion in economic activity, according to United for Medical Research.

Science funding is not government waste - see my opinion piece in the Lansing State Journal about why cuts to science funding are bad for Michigan. @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/opinio...

Nearing 400 members on our Zeavolution slack! Want to interact with other members of the maize genetics community? We have a weekly webinar on maize diversity/evolution as well. DM me and I'll share a link to join the slack.

The recording of this past week's #PolyploidyWebinar is now up on youtube! Join us on April 2 for the next one!

youtu.be/nBLwF_vgGe8

A group of protestors in front of the Michigan State Capitol

Standing up for science in Lansing MI

A protest sign that in large words states “Science saves lives” with different diseases that have vaccines scattered around the larger words

#standup4science

A poster that reads "Science Needs Diversity" and the "ER" in diversity are colored to represent the trans flag

Catch me at the Michigan state Capitol this afternoon repping my intersectional identities! Trans people do science and science is better because of it! #StandUpForScience 🌱🧪

Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century Numerous declines have been documented across insect groups, and the potential consequences of insect losses are dire. Butterflies are the most surveyed insect taxa, yet analyses have been limited in ...

Our paper is out, and it is distressing.

Rapid butterfly declines across the United States during the 21st century | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An email with the subject line: Re: Preliminary Injunction Order- Washington v. Trump Text of the email: On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, a Federal Court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting certain actions related to Executive Orders 14187 and 14168, which is effective immediately. You can review the court’s order and the Executive Orders at https://nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/Washington-v-Trump-NoticeOfCourtOrder-3-5-2025.pdf. The Order prevents NSF employees from withholding federal funding because a health care entity or health professional provides gender-affirming care. The Court’s Order also prevents NSF from implementing the requirements contained in Sections 3(e) and 3(g) of Executive Order 14,168, Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. Pursuant to the Court’s directive this notice is being provided “to all Defendants, and agencies and their employees, contractors and grantees.” Sethuraman Panchanathan Director

Love to see it!

Our review on k-mers + pop gen is now published!

doi.org/10.1093/molb...