B.A. in Biology, Illinois Wesleyan University 1994

M.S. in Zoology, Louisiana State University 1997

Awards:

Research Honors in Biology, IWU.
Wade W. Wantland Award, IWU.
Various grants while at LSU including the Frank M. Chapman award of the American Museum of Natural History, and Grants-in-Aid from Sigma Xi.

Research Interests:

I'm interested in describing patterns of genetic variation among populations and species of tropical birds.

Current Research:

I work in the Pritzker Lab for five Field Museum curators that all use DNA sequencing to study the evolution of different plants, fungi, animals, and even bacteria. The primary responsibility of my job is to generate the DNA sequence data that the curators will use to answer their research questions. The best part about my job is the variety of organisms I get to learn about and work on. Right now my projects include work on fruit flies, lichens, cyanobacteria, and birds. My personal research focuses on evolution in tropical birds. For this work I'm studying patterns of genetic variation in cave swallows and am looking at speciation and extinction in birds from Madagascar.

Publication:

Kirchman, J.J., L.A. Whittingham, and F.H. Sheldon. Relationships among cave swallow populations (Petrochelidon fulva) determined by comparisons of microsatellite and cytochrome b data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. In press.

Kirchman, J.J., S.J. Hackett, S.M. Goodman, and J.M. Bates. 2001. Phylogeny and systematics of ground rollers (Brachypteraciidae) of Madagascar. Auk 118(4):849-863. (Auk cover)

Cover Art by Michal Skakuj

Current Position:

www.nysm.nysed.gov/staff/details.cfm?staffID=172