Curriculum vitae

Elizabeth Karan’s CV (pdf)

EDUCATION

  • PH.D. IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 2017–PRESENT
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES; LOS ANGELES, CA
  • A.B. ORGANISMIC AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, 2016
    HARVARD COLLEGE; CAMBRIDGE, MA

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • GRADUATE INTERN, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH / NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE; REMOTE POSITION SUMMER 2022
  • PH.D. CANDIDATE, ALFARO LAB; LOS ANGELES, CA 2021–PRESENT PH.D. STUDENT, ALFARO LAB; LOS ANGELES, CA 2017– 2020
  • UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER, LAUDER LAB; CAMBRIDGE, MA 2015–2016
  • RESEARCH ASSISTANT, RADCLIFFE RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP; CAMBRIDGE, MA 2015
  • VOLUNTEER, MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY; CAMBRIDGE, MA 2014–2016
  • RESEARCH ASSISTANT, OPERATION WALLACEA; WAKATOBI N.P., INDONESIA 2014

PUBLICATIONS

DK Wainwright, EA Karan, DC Collar. Evolutionary patterns of scale morphology in damselfishes (Pomacentridae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 02 December 2021.

ME Alfaro, EA Karan, ST Schwartz, AJ Shultz. The Evolution of Color Pattern in Butterflyfishes (Chaetodontidae). Integrative and Comparative Biology. 11 July 2019.

PUPA Gilbert, KD Bergmann, CE Myers, MA Marcus, RT DeVol, C-Y Sun, AZ Blonsky, J Zhao, EA Karan, E Tamre, N Tamura, AJ Giuffre, S Lemer, G Giribet, JM Eiler, AH Knoll. Nacre tablet thickness records formation temperature in modern and fossil shells. Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters. 15 February 2017.

PRESENTATIONS

EA Karan, ST Schwartz, M Perillo, ME Alfaro. It’s not just a phase: evolutionary and functional consequences of sexually dimorphic color pattern diversity in labrid fishes. Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. Virtual meeting. January 2021.

EA Karan, ST Schwartz. Quantitative Approaches to Studying Color Pattern Evolution. Claremont-McKenna College (guest lecture). Claremont, CA. May 2019.

EA Karan, ME Alfaro. Evolution of False Eyespots in Butterflyfishes: Testing Eye Camouflage and Mimicry as Anti-predator Adaptations. Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. Tampa, FL. January 2019.

EA Karan, DK Wainwright, DC Collar. A comparative study of damselfish scale morphology. Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology. Portland, OR. January 2016.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS

  • NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH SUMMER INTERNSHIP 2022
  • ESA STUDENT SECTION REAL/BROWN STUDENT AWARD 2020
  • EEB DEPARTMENTAL RESEARCH AWARD 2019
  • NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION GRADUATE RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP 2019
  • UCLA IRVING AND JEAN STONE FELLOWSHIP 2017
  • HARVARD DEAN’S SUMMER RESEARCH AWARD 2015
  • MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY GRANT FOR UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH 2015
  • HARVARD COLLEGE RESEARCH PRIZE 2015
  • DAVID ROCKEFELLER INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE GRANT 2014

TEACHING AND COURSE SUPPORT

  • TEACHING ASSISTANT, EEB 143: VIRUS ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION WINTER 2023
  • TEACHING ASSISTANT, EEB 121: MOLECULAR EVOLUTION FALL 2022
  • INSTRUCTOR, GE CLUSTER 70CW: EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE SPRING 2019
  • TEACHING ASSISTANT, CLUSTER 70B: EVOLUTION OF COMOS AND LIFE B WINTER 2019
  • TEACHING ASSISTANT, CLUSTER 70A: EVOLUTION OF COMOS AND LIFE A FALL 2018
  • TEACHING ASSISTANT, EEB 116: CONSERVATION BIOLOGY SPRING 2018

LEADERSHIP AND OUTREACH

  • EEB GRADUATE EDUCATION TASK FORCE 2020-2021
  • JUDGE, LOS ANGELES COUNTY SCIENCE & ENGINEERING FAIR 2019, 2020 (VIRTUAL)
  • VOLUNTEER, EXPLORING YOUR UNIVERSE 2019
  • VOLUNTEER, AWISE STEM DAY AT UCLA 2019
  • COORDINATOR, EEB COMMITTEE: SEMINAR AND ECO EVO PUB 2018 – 2019