A.B. Harvard University 1997 (Biology)
M.S. University of Chicago 2001 (Evolutionary Biology)

Awards:

2003 Field Museum Graduate Fellowship
2002 NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, "Comparative phylogeography of six Philippine fruit bats" (L.R. Heaney, P.I.; J.M. Bates and T.E. Roberts, co-P.I.'s)
2002 American Society of Mammalogists Grant-in-Aid of Research
2001 Hinds grant, U. Chicago Committee on Evolutionary Biology
1999 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Research Interests:

My major interest is in the relationships among populations within species. I am curious about the historical, geographic, and biological factors which cause particular patterns of relationships.

Current Research:

My dissertation research focuses on the phylogeography of several species of Philippine fruit bats. My project will compare genetic patterns among populations within species with different overall distributions and biological traits, in an island system with a well-known history. I am using DNA sequence data to determine the degree and pattern of genetic structure in each species and to infer its underlying history.

Presentations at Meetings and Symposia:

Phylogeography of the endemic Philippine fruit bat Haplonycteris fischeri. Oral presentation, American Society of Mammalogists, Lake Charles, LA. June 2002.

Comparative phylogeography of the fruit bats Cynopterus brachyotis and Haplonycteris fischeri in the Philippines. Poster presentation, Society for the Study of Evolution, Champaign-Urbana, IL. June 2002.

Comparative phylogeography of the endemic Philippine fruit bats Ptenochirus jagori and Ptenochirus minor. Poster presentation, International Biogeography Society, Mesquite, NV. January 2003.

Comparative phylogeography of the endemic Philippine fruit bats Ptenochirus jagori and Ptenochirus minor. Oral presentation, Society for the Study of Evolution, Chico, CA. June 2003.

Roberts, Trina E. Reduced mtDNA diversity in endemic Philippine fruit bats on small, isolated islands. Oral presentation, annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution, Society for Systematic Biology, and American Society of Naturalists, Fort Collins, CO.

Roberts, Trina E. Reduced mtDNA diversity in endemic Philippine fruit bats on small, isolated islands. Oral presentation, annual meeting of the American Society of Mammalogists, Arcata, CA.

Heaney, Lawrence R. and Trina E. Roberts. The biogeography of genetic divergence in Philippine fruit bats. Invited symposium presentation, annual meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, Miami, FL.

Roberts, Trina E. Phylogeography of the endemic Philippine fruit
bat Ptenochirus minor. Inaugural Evolutionary Biology Student Symposium, University of Chicago.

Invited Seminars

Research seminar series, The Field Museum, December 2004. Genetics, geography, and the deep history of an endemic Philippine fruit bat.

Manuscripts

Roberts, Trina E. Mitochondrial DNA reveals multiple levels of
allopatric divergence in the endemic Philippine fruit bat Haplonycteris fischeri. In review, Biol. J. Linn. Soc.