PI
Bruno de Medeiros
Negaunee Assistant Curator of Pollinating insects
Bruno started his career as undergrad and MSc student at the University of São Paulo and then PhD student at Harvard University. After a pandemic postdoc at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panamá, he has been at the Field Museum since September 2022. He is generally interested in the evolution of the outstanding insect diversity, and particularly of overlooked flower visitors such as beetles.
Postdocs
Diego de Santana Souza
Diego is an evolutionary biologist interested in beetle systematics and evolution. He has experience using integrative taxonomy, genomics, and bioinformatics tools to investigate the origins of morphological and ecological innovations, such as the girdling behavior of longhorn beetles. His current projects aim to understand the mechanisms by which flower-associated beetle diversity arises, as well as to probe the role of mutualism and antagonism in macroevolutionary diversification, using the palm weevils as models. Diego is also involved in projects that aim to develop new methodologies for generating and analyzing phylogenomic data. These include generating genomic resources for studies of speciation in flower-associated beetles and tests of software-based adaptive sampling, such as target enrichment sequencing, using nanopore sequencing for phylogenetic studies, seeking to improve datasets by including samples that are only accessible by traveling.
Elizabeth Postema
Elizabeth is an ecologist, entomologist, and animal behaviorist fascinated by the many adaptive roles of animal coloration. She uses a variety of approaches to understand how diversity in color is produced and maintained, from conceptual reviews to experimental studies in the field. As a postdoctoral researcher at the Field Museum, she plans to take advantage of the museum’s rich Coleoptera collection to understand the evolution of beetle coloration on a global scale. Her project is specifically focused on how abiotic conditions (e.g. temperature and moisture) interact with biotic conditions (e.g. predator-prey dynamics, host-plant associations) to produce the striking diversity of color strategies we observe among beetles in nature. She is particularly interested in using whole-drawer imaging techniques, combined with Deep Learning AI models, to improve the speed and feasibility of specimen digitization and phenotyping.
Graduate Students
Abigail Magland
PhD Candidate
Abigail is a first-year PhD student at the University of Chicago in Evolutionary Biology. She is interested in beetle natural history and systematics and plans to explore how species interaction feeds diversity in flower-associated beetles. Her past work has focused on mosquito oviposition and beetle pollination behaviors through a combination of lab and field approaches. She holds a bachelor of science degree from Brigham Young University.
Alissa Doucet
PhD Student
Alissa is a PhD student in evolutionary biology at the University of Chicago and the Field Museum of Natural History. She is interested in the evolution of nocturnal Lepidoptera under global change, with a special interest in flower-visiting moths. She is particularly interested in trait shifts—such as changes in phenology, geographic range, and life history—that occur in response to climate change and habitat alteration. Alissa integrates fieldwork, museum collections, environmental DNA (eDNA), and AI-assisted camera trap technology to track these changes across space and time. She earned her Master’s degree from Northwestern University, where she studied the population genetics and reproductive ecology of hawkmoth-pollinated plants.
ResearchGate
RINA Talaba
PhD Student
Rina acquired her Bachelor's Degree from Kalamazoo College with a double major in Biology and Anthropology. She earned her Master's Degree from Northwestern University studying the floral morphology and scent composition of Pitcher's Thistle (Cirsium pitcheri) and its relationship with pollinators and its weevil predator, Larinus carlinae. Now as a PhD student, she is still greatly driven by questions investigating coevolutionary adaptations in both plants and coleopteran mutualists. She takes a special interest in the pollinator system of the genus Artocarpus which include Jackfruit and Breadfruit and its elusive insect visitors. She is also a great advocate for community science and science communication!.
Former lab members
Graduate students
Aline Lira (visiting PhD student 2023), now postdoc at Federal Rural University of Pernambuco, Brazil
Eduardo Gomyde (visiting MSc student 2023), now PhD student at University of São Paulo, Brazil
Ederson Oliveira (visiting PhD student 2025), now concluding his PhD at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Staff
Andrew Gallardo (Collections Technician 2022-25)
Interns
Maya Mahoney (undergraduate intern 2023-24), now MSc Student at DePaul University
Leah Briscoe & Chloe Harder (Women In Science interns 2024)
Gia de La Rosa, Tony Eisel, Aviana Hoist, Riley Milay and Stella Guri (Roosevelt University interns 2024)
Volunteers
Dexter Philip (2023-24)