2004 Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Columbia University

2002 Certificate in Environmental Policy, Columbia University

1999 M.A., Columbia University

1996 B.A. in Environmental Science, Barnard College , Columbia University

Awards:

2003 American Ornithologists’ Union : Wetmore Award
Research grant for a project entitled “'Historical biogeography of southern Asia : investigating patterns of biotic assemblages and their relationships using endemic avian taxa.'”

2003 Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund
Research grant for a project entitled “Systematics and biogeography of several species-complexes endemic to southern Asia .”

2002 Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund
Research grant for a project entitled “Systematics of the scimitar babblers (Pomatorhinus, Xiphirhynchus: Timaliidae)   with implications for the historical biogeography of southern Asia .”

2001 American Ornithologists’ Union :
Student Membership Award
Membership and journal for three years.

2001 Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund
Research grant for a project entitled “Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the Genus Pteruthius        (Timaliidae).”

2000 Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund
Research grant for a project entitled “Patterns of distribution and diversity of birds in the Indian Subcontinent.”

1998-2004 Center for Environmental Research and Conservation
Faculty Fellow in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology doctoral program.

1996 Center for Environmental Research and Conservation
Summer research fellowship for an undergraduate internship at the American Museum of Natural History.

1995 Center for Leadership in Urban Public Policy
Urban affairs fellowship, which partly funded internship at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Research Interests:

My main research interests are systematics, biogeography, and patterns of diversity.  More specifically, my research to date includes issues related to the historical biogeography of southern Asia , molecular phylogenetics, ornithology, taxonomy, patterns of species distributions and diversity, quantitative methods for predicting species ranges, and conservation.

Current Research:

My doctoral research focused on the historical biogeography of montane southern Asia using several endemic groups of passerine birds.  Southern Asia has a highly diverse, yet poorly studied avifauna.  For most groups, the taxonomy is misleading and there are few, if any, species-level phylogenies, species range maps, delineated areas of endemism, or biogeographic analyses.  These fundamental issues needed to be addressed in order to study patterns of diversification within southern Asia .  My study was organized into three main components: the phylogenetic analysis, the distributional analysis, and the biogeographic synthesis.  For three endemic groups traditionally placed in the family Timaliidae (Pteruthius, Garrulax erythrocephalus complex, Pomatorhinus), I revised the taxonomy to reflect distinct evolutionary units and used molecular data to analyze phylogenetic relationships within these groups and among their closest relatives.  For the distributional analysis, I assembled a large data set of locality points from museum specimens for more than 200 distinct endemic taxa.  I used this data set to determine species distributions and to identify areas of endemism for montane southern Asia . Finally, the phylogenetic and distribution patterns were synthesized in a historical biogeographic context in order to study the evolution of montane biotas in southern Asia . This research resulted in the first database for avian distributions in the region, new phylogenetic information about diverse components of the avifauna, and the first biogeographic history for southern Asia based on contemporary methods of analysis.

My postdoctoral research deals with a broader aspect of avian evolution.  I am involved in a NSF Assembling the Tree of Life project called Early Bird.  The aim is to study the phylogenetic relationships of all modern birds using a novel approach of assembling a large, multi-locus, intron-heavy dataset of DNA sequences (20+ kb) as well as collaborating with several major institutions worldwide.  Previous studies have had little success in resolving the basal relationships of birds.  Except for the two well-supported basal splits of the Paleognathae (Ratites and Tinamous) and the Galloanserae (Chickens and Ducks) clades from the rest of birds, the remaining ordinal relationships are completely unresolved.  The diversification of modern birds has been postulated to have occurred very rapidly, with the modern orders originating at similar times.  A strategy of analyzing several genes of varying rates of evolution, as well as integrating morphological data sets, should provide a substantial number of characters to progress on the elusive issue of resolving the relationships of modern birds.

Publications:

Reddy, S. and L.M. Davalos. 2003. Geographical sampling bias and its implications for conservation priorities in Africa . Journal of Biogeography 30: 1719-1727.

Presentations at Scientific Meetings:

Reddy, S. 2003. Identifying areas of endemism for montane southern Asia . Abstracts of the One Hundred and Twenty-First Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union, 6 - 9 August 2003. Champaign-Urbana , Illinois . Abstract no. 050.

Reddy, S., A. Cibois, J. Feinstein, and J. Cracraft. 2002. Shrike-babblers (Pteruthius: Timaliidae) are corvidans, not passeridans.  Abstract Volume of the 23rd International Ornithological Congress, 11-17 August 2002. Beijing , China .

Dávalos, L.M., and Reddy, S. 2002. Are conservation priority areas artifacts of sampling? Abstracts of the Third North American Ornithological Conference, 24-28 September 2002. New Orleans , Louisiana . Abstract no. 35, CD-ROM.

Reddy, S. and L.M. Davalos. 2001. A test for sampling bias in conservation priority-setting.  Abstracts of the 15th Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology 29 July-1 August 2001. Hilo , Hawai'i . p. 129.

Reddy, S. and N. Caithness . 1999. A principal components approach to bioclimatic mapping of species distributions. Abstracts of the papers presented at the 117th Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union 10-14 August 1999. Ithaca , New York . p. 117.

Davalos, L.M. and S. Reddy. 1999. Analysis of richness and complementarity of a Neotropical avifauna based on capture and observation data. Abstracts of the papers presented at the 117th Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union 10-14 August 1999. Ithaca , New York . p. 98.