Professional Appointments
2018-present Professor, Department of Biology, Colorado State University
2016-present Director, Global Biodiversity Center, SoGES, Colorado State University
2013-2018 Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Colorado State University
2013-2015 Chair, Biodiversity Working Group, SoGES, Colorado State University
2008-2013 Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Colorado State University
2007-2008 Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, College of William and Mary
2006-2007 Postdoctoral Research Associate, US Geological Survey, Corvallis, Oregon (Advisor: Sue Haig)
2004-2005 Postdoctoral Fellow, Integrative Biology, University of Texas (Advisors: Mike Ryan & Dave Cannatella)
Education
2004 Ph.D. in Organismal Biology & Ecology, University of Montana (Advisors: Fred Allendorf & Andy Sheldon)
1994 B.A. in Biology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (Advisor: Fred Cohan)
Honors, Scholarships, and Fellowships
Distinguished Speaker, Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 2019.
Promoted early to full professorship, Colorado State University, 2018.
Plenary Speaker, Meeting on the “Conservation of Adaptive Potential and Functional Diversity,” Durham University, Durham, England, 2017.
Featured Keynote Speaker, Intercollege Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, 2017.
Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct research at the Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, on “Massively parallel sequencing meets megadiversity: Harnessing genomics to uncover the mechanisms generating Colombia’s exceptional biodiversity”, 2015.
Leopold Leadership Fellowship, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford, California, 2015.
Promoted early to tenure, Colorado State University, 2013.
Featured Keynote Speaker, Annual Program in Ecology Symposium, University of Wyoming, Laramie, 2013.
Featured Keynote Speaker, Guild of Rocky Mountain Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists Annual Meeting, Pingree Park, Colorado, 2010.
USGS Star Award in recognition of outstanding performance on Snowy Plover conservation genetics project, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, 2006.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Montana, 1997–2000.
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Traineeship, Training Within Environmental Biology Program, University of Montana, 1997–2002.
Awarded four Bertha Morton Scholarships for graduate student excellence in academics, research, and community achievements, University of Montana, 1999, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
Awarded a Clancy Gordon Environmental Scholarship for applying scientific knowledge towards the resolution of environmental problems, University of Montana, 2000.
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Wesleyan University, 1994.
National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, 1993 (Advisor: Ron Burton).
Recent Invited Presentations
Invited Speaker, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, April 2020.
Invited Speaker, Representation in SSAs – Adaptive capacity: What is it and how to asses it? U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service webinar, June 2019.
Invited Speaker, Long-term Genetic Diversity Monitoring workshop, ETH Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute for Technology), Zürich, Switzerland. May 2019.
Invited Speaker, Symposium on Climate Change in High-gradient Mountain Streams, Society for Freshwater Science annual meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. May 2019.
Invited Speaker, Kellogg Biological Station, Michigan State University, Hickory Corners, Michigan. April 2019.
Invited Speaker, School of Biological Sciences, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia. April 2018.
Invited Speaker, Symposium on the State of Biodiversity, San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego, California. February 2018.
Invited Speaker, Symposium on Providing Solutions to Current Conservation Challenges with Novel Genetic Approaches, International Congress for Conservation Biology, Cartagena, Colombia. July 2017.
Invited Speaker, Genetics Symposium, Western Division of the American Fisheries Society annual meeting, Missoula, Montana, May 2017.
Invited Speaker, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. November 2016.
Invited Speaker, Symposium on Communicating Genetics for Improved Conservation Action, North American Congress for Conservation Biology Annual Meeting, Madison, Wisconsin. July 2016.
Invited Speaker, Annual Meeting of the Island Fox Conservation Working Group, Santa Barbara, California. June 2016.
Invited Speaker, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura, California. May 2016.
Invited Speaker, Santa Cruz Island Rediscovery Workshop, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, California. January 2016.
Invited Speaker, Department of Biological Sciences, Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. October 2015.
Invited Speaker, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. April 2015.
Invited Speaker, Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana. March 2015.
Invited speaker for the German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany, February 2015.
Invited Speaker, Symposium on Recent Advances in Applying Genetics and Genomics to Conservation: A Tribute to Fred Allendorf, North American Congress for Conservation Biology Annual Meeting, Missoula, Montana. July 2014.
Invited Speaker, Centro para la Investigación y Conservación de la Biodiversidad, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Quito, Ecuador. June 2014.
Invited Speaker, US Fish and Wildlife Service webinar series on Advanced Topics in Conservation Genetics, Shepherdstown, West Virginia. May 2014.
Invited Speaker, Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago. February 2014.
Invited Speaker, Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul. November 2013.
Invited Speaker, Graduate Program in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. April 2013.
Invited Speaker, Institute for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies, University of Idaho, Moscow. June 2012
Invited Speaker, Department of Biology, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada. November 2011.
Invited Speaker, Departamento de Biología, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador. March 2011.
Invited Speaker, Department of Biology, University of Denver, November 2010.
Invited Speaker, Department of Zoology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. April 2010.
Invited Speaker, Museo de Zoología, Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito. February 2009.
Invited Speaker, Population Biology Seminar Series, University of Virginia, Charlottesville. October 2007.
Invited Speaker, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Biology, Oregon State University, Corvallis. November 2006.
Grants
2018
National Science Foundation, RoL:FELS:EAGER: Landscape phenomics: Predicting vulnerability to climate change by linking environmental heterogeneity to genetic and phenotypic variation (with co-PI Cameron Ghalambor, Jason Dunham, and Erin Landguth) [$300,000; 2018-2020]
National Science Foundation, Collaborative Research: Testing mechanisms of microgeographic adaptation (with Cameron Ghalambor, T. Scott Sillett, T. Brandt Ryder, and Paul Hohenlohe) [$849,178; 2018-2021]
Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Boreal toad conservation genomics: testing for disease resistance, characterization of adaptation, and identification of management units (w/ co-PI LL Bailey) [$251,731; 2018-2020]
Colorado State University Office of the Vice President for Research–Quarterly Proposal Request, Support for ecology of infectious disease workshop (w/ Sue VandeWoude and Kevin Croosk) [$5000; 2018]
2017
The Nature Conservancy, Ecology and genomics of the Santa Cruz Island Fox [$22,710; 2017]
2016
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Future Earth Spark Funding Initiative: Integrating science for sustainability (with J Tewksbury) [$2,031,152; 2017-2020]
The Nature Conservancy, Ecology and genomics of the Santa Cruz Island Fox [$33,953; 2016-2017]
National Science Foundation, Dissertation Research: Harnessing genomics to test the mechanisms causing adaptive phenotypic divergence along elevational gradients in a poison frog (with co-PI Mónica Páez-Vacas) [$19,618; 2016-2018]
2015
US Fish and Wildlife Service, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, Population genomic analysis of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) in Nevada [$100,000; 2015-2018]
The Nature Conservancy, Ecology and genomics of the Santa Cruz Island Fox [$31,199; 2015-2016]
National Science Foundation, REU Supplement for How does gene flow affect local adaptation and population dynamics?: Experimental tests in wild populations and mesocosms (with co-PI LM Angeloni) [$7,000; 2015]
National Science Foundation, Dissertation Research: Temporal sampling and DNA metabarcoding to test the climate variability hypothesis (with co-PI Brian Gill) [$19,331; 2015-2017]
2014
The Nature Conservancy, Population genomics of Island Scrub Jays and Channel Island Song Sparrows [$47,411; 2014-2015]
National Science Foundation, EEID: Impacts of Landscape Structure, Host Demography, and Management Interventions on Disease Dynamics (with S VandeWoude, KR Crooks, S Carver, M Craft) [$2,140,000; 2014-2019]
National Science Foundation, RAPID: Collaborative Research: Effects of an Extreme Disturbance Event on Genomic Variation and Community Organization of Stream Insects (with NL Poff, BC Kondratieff, Flecker AS) [$200,360; 2014-2015]
National Science Foundation, REU Supplement for How does gene flow affect local adaptation and population dynamics?: Experimental tests in wild populations and mesocosms (with co-PI LM Angeloni) [$14,000; 2014]
2013
Southern California Research Learning Center, Landscape genetics of the Island Fence Lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis becki) on Santa Cruz Island: the role of habitat complexity and climate on genetic connectivity of populations across the island (with JM Robertson, GP Pauly) [$6,000; 2013-2014]
The Nature Conservancy, Conservation genomics and phylogeography of vertebrates of the California Channel Islands [$23,060; 2013-2014]
2012
National Science Foundation, How does gene flow affect local adaptation and population dynamics?: Experimental tests in wild populations and mesocosms (with co-PI LM Angeloni) [$398,775; 2012-2015]
Department of Defense Legacy Management Program, Terms of endangerment: Use of modern genetic techniques to measure the status of protected species (with co-PI RE Lovich) [$93,577; 2012-2013]
2011
National Science Foundation, Dimensions: Collaborative Research: An integrative traits-based approach to predicting variation in vulnerability of tropical and temperate stream biodiversity to climate change (with NL Poff , CK Ghalambor, BC Kondratieff, S Thomas, AS Flecker, KR Zamudio) [2011-2016; $2,999,320]
2010
Colorado Division of Wildlife, Population genetic analysis of Arkansas darter (Etheostoma cragini) in Colorado: characterization of population boundaries, landscape connectivity, effective population sizes, and bottlenecks [$42,501; 2010-11]
Keystone Wildlife Research Ltd., Genetic identification of spotted frogs (Rana pretiosa complex) from British Columbia [$2000; 2010-2011]
2009
US Bureau of Land Management, Genetic evaluation of the southeastern Oregon clade of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) [$35,500; 2009–14]
US Bureau of Land Management, Population genetic analysis of Oregon spotted frogs (Rana pretiosa) in the Klamath Basin: testing for recent population declines, landscape connectivity, and responses to restoration [$50,000; 2009–14]
US Bureau of Land Management, Population genetic analysis of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) in southwestern Idaho [$20,000; 2009–11]
US Geological Survey, Assessing the adequacy of existing reserve systems for amphibian conservation in the Colorado Front Range [$37,000; 2009–2011]
National Geographic Society–Waitt Grants Program, Uncovering cryptic species of Amazonian rainforest frogs [$12,850; 2009]
Sunriver Nature Center and Oregon Community Foundation, Population genetic analysis of Oregon spotted frogs (Rana pretiosa): testing for recent population declines, landscape connectivity, and responses to restoration (with MJ Adams, CA Pearl, J Bowerman) [$10,000; 2009-2010]
Colorado State University Office of International Programs–International Workshop Grant, Integrative analysis of the genetics of speciation in Physalaemus petersi (PI K Hoke) [$5000; 2009]
Colorado State University Office of International Programs–Faculty Research Travel Grant, Dissecting the mechanisms driving speciation in Amazonian rainforest frogs [$2000; 2009]
2008
College of William and Mary Faculty Summer Research Grant, A test of hypotheses for the invasion success of bullfrogs in the Pacific Northwest [$5000; 2008] (declined)
2006
US Fish and Wildlife Service Science Support Partnership Program, Genetic evaluation of the Great Basin Distinct Population Segment in Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) (PI SM Haig) [$20,728; 2006–07]
Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force Seed Grant, Population monitoring of terrestrial frogs, stream frogs, and caecilians at Yanayacu Biological Station, Ecuador, in Amazonian cloud forest (with EM Cole, MR Bustamante) [$2000; 2006–07]
2005
Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force–Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Population monitoring, disease screening, and management of threatened amphibians of the Ecuadorian Chocó (with SR Ron, LA Coloma, JP Collins) [$11,000; 2005–06]
2003
Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force Seed Grant, Assessing connectivity among populations of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) using capture-recapture analysis and microsatellite loci [$2000; 2003]
2000
Conservation, Food & Health Foundation, Ecuador Amphibian Monitoring, Research, and Training Project [$50,885; 2000–03]
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative, US Department of the Interior, Role of dispersal in the persistence of populations and metapopulations of Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) (PI PS Corn) [$30,000; 2000–03]
1998
Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force Seed Grant, Recolonization of high elevation lakes by long-toed salamanders [$2000; 1998–2000]
National Science Foundation, Population responses of an Amazonian frog species to forest fragmentation (PI FW Allendorf) [$4,000; 1998–99]
Professional Activities
Editorial boards
Associate Editor for the journal Neotropical Biodiversity, May 2014–October 2017.
Journal peer reviews
Reviewer for the following journals: Alytes, American Naturalist, Animal Behaviour, Animal Conservation, Auk, Biological Conservation, Biology Letters, Biotropica, Conservation Biology, Conservation Genetics, Conservation Genetics Resources, Ecography, Ecological Applications, Ecology, Ecology Letters, Evolution, Evolutionary Applications, Freshwater Science, Functional Ecology, Heredity, Herpetologica, Herpetological Journal, Herpetological Review, Journal of Applied Ecology, Journal of Biogeography, Journal of Evolutionary Biology, Journal of Heredity, Journal of Herpetology, Journal of Wildlife Management, Molecular Ecology, Molecular Ecology Resources, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, Mycologia, Northwestern Naturalist, PLoS ONE, PNAS, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Science Advances, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Western North American Naturalist
Book peer reviews
Reviewer for the following book publishers: Oxford University Press, Springer, University of Chicago Press
NSF panelist
NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity panelist, June 2012.
NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant panelist, February 2010.
Funding agency ad hoc reviews
Reviewer for the following foundations and government agencies: National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, US Geological Survey
University committees
Tenure and Promotion Committee, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, August 2018-May 2020.
Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE) Executive Committee member, Colorado State University, November 2016.
CSU Department of Biology Space Use Committee, August 2016-May 2018.
Bioinformatics Search Committee, Department of Computer Science, Colorado State University, December 2013-March 2014.
Tenure and Promotion Committee, Department of Biology, Colorado State University, August 2013-May 2015.
Plant Evolutionary Biologist Search Committee, Colorado State University, September 2012–February 2013.
CSU Department of Biology Executive Committee, August 2011–May 2013.
School of Global Environmental Sustainability (SoGES) Excecutive Council, Colorado State University, August 2012–present.
Faculty advisor for CSU Student Herpetology Society, February 2011–present.
Alliance for Graduate Education & Professoriate (AGEP; an organization advancing graduate student diversity) Faculty member, Colorado State University, September 2010–present.
Graduate Degree Program in Ecology (GDPE) Executive Committee member, Colorado State University, August 2010–May 2012.
Graduate student representative on the Aquatic Ecologist Search Committee, University of Montana, Spring 2003.
Graduate student representative on the Student Evaluation Committee to assess the teaching performance of faculty in the Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Fall 2002.
Meetings/symposia organization
Lead organizer of Biodiversity Summit at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, October 2017.
Funk Lab organized the Guild of Rocky Mountain Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists Annual Meeting, September 2014.
Lead organizer for Conservation Genomics Symposium at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology, Missoula, Montana, July 2014.
Co-organizer for Genetic Rescue Symposium at the North American Congress for Conservation Biology, Missoula, Montana, July 2014.
International service
Invited to serve on the Board of Directors of the Instituto Biosfera, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, February 2017 – present.
Professional Memberships
Society for Conservation Biology, Society for the Study of Evolution, Ecological Society of America, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Conservation Leadership and Communication Experience
Conservation leadership positions
Director of the SoGES Global Biodiversity Center, Colorado State University, January 2016-present.
Chair of the SoGES Biodiversity Working Group, Colorado State University, May 2013-December 2015.
Advising managers and policy makers
Invited to serve on Expert Panel on Greater Sage-Grouse Genetics as part of US Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Act Status Review, Fort Collins, Colorado, October 22-23, 2014.
Invited to lead workshop on the application of genetics/genomics to fisheries management and conservation at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the CO/WY Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, March 4, 2014, Laramie, Wyoming.
Invited to brief the Washington Department of Wildlife on strategies for re-introduction of captive-bred Oregon spotted frogs, September 2012.
Invited to brief the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, and state wildlife agency biologists and managers on our Oregon spotted frog genetics results, Portland, Oregon, June 2012.
Invited to brief the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Forest Service, and state wildlife agency biologists and managers on our Columbia spotted frog genetics results, Portland, Oregon, May 2012.
Invited to advise the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List on the ecology and status of Chiasmocleis devriesi, a new frog species my colleague and I described in 2009 from Amazonian Peru, January 2011.
Invited to advise the Colorado Division of Wildlife Biologists (Kevin Rogers and Harry Crocket) regarding conservation genetics of cutthroat trout and Arkansas darters, January 2010.
Invited to brief the Columbia spotted frog Idaho Technical Team on our Columbia spotted frog genetics results, Boise, Idaho, August 2008.
Invited to brief an interagency team of federal biologists and managers on our Columbia spotted frog genetics results, Reno, Nevada, July 2008.
Invited to brief the US Geological Survey, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and US Department of Interior administrators on our genetic results pertaining to the conservation and management of Northern Spotted Owls, Fall 2007.
Panels
Invited to serve on panel at the 8th California Islands Symposium session on “Islands of Change: Planning for collaborative research and management of the California Islands,” Ventura, California, October 25, 2012.
Invited to serve on a Species and Conservation Panel for the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Avogadro’s Number, Fort Collins, Colorado, on September 2010.
Invited to present research on climate change effects on amphibians to the director of Climate Refugees (Michael Nash), the Chair of the Board of Governors for the CSU System (Patrick McConathy), and the President of CSU (Tony Frank), November 2009.
Invited to serve as a Panelist for International Colloquium on Global Challenges for Sustainability held at Colorado State University, September 2009.
Committees and workshops
Invited to serve on the San Nicolas Island fox Structured Decision Making workshop hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ventura, CA, March 28-29, 2017.
Invited to serve on a workshop on “Evaluating impacts of reintroducing an ecosystem engineer: the case of the Island Scrub-Jay” hosted by the Centre for Excellence for Environmental Decisions and the Nature Conservancy, Brisbane, Australia, week of February 9, 2015.
Invited to serve on the Science Review Committee for the Northern Spotted Owl Recovery Plan, March 2009–present.
Invited to serve on the Landscape Change Committee as part of the development of an Amphibian Conservation Action Plan at the Amphibian Conservation Summit, Washington, DC, September 2005.
Invited to participate in the Advanced Training in Amphibian Population Decline Research Workshop funded by the National Science Foundation and the Research and Analysis Network for Neotropical Amphibians (RANA), San Jose, Costa Rica, January 2004.
Invited to serve as a Committee Member of RANA: The Research and Analysis Network for Neotropical Amphibians, 2003–2007.
Founding member of the Yanayacu Natural History Research Group, 2002–present.
Research Associate and Advisory Board Member for Yanayacu Biological Station, Cosanga, Ecuador, 2000–present.
Invited to NSF-sponsored Workshop on Declining Amphibians in Latin America, Quito, Ecuador, November 1999.
Interviews
Interviewed by Rae Bichell, reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau, regarding article in Science magazine on our research on genetic rescue, July 19, 2019. Aired on Colorado Public Radio on July 29, 2019.
Was interviewed by freelance journalist, Laura Poppick, regarding the benefits and risks of implementing genetic rescue for an article in Smithsonian.com, April 2017.
Was interviewed by freelance journalist, Hilary Rosner, regarding our research on the vulnerability of stream organisms to climate change for an article in Nature, July 2012.
Was interviewed by freelance journalist, Hilary Rosner, regarding our research on the vulnerability of stream organisms to climate change for an article in PLoS BLOGS, September 2011.
Was interviewed by Nature magazine reporter Gayathri Vaidyanathan regarding our Northern Spotted Owl genetics results, February 2011.
