Background and research interests: Mike did his PhD training with Joe Travis at Florida State University where he worked on the quantitative genetics of life history and morphometric traits in tree frogs. He subsequently trained as a postdoc in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the University of Florida, where he studied the population genetics of parasitic nematodes. He held brief positions at Sonoma State University and the University of South Florida before starting as an assistant professor at Oregon State University in 1995. Mike’s lab at OSU spent several years working on the conservation genetics of local frog species, and studying gene flow and genetic structuring in parasitic trematodes.

Mike’s early interest in using molecular markers for pedigree reconstruction in natural populations led to a long term and continuing study of fitness differences between hatchery and wild salmon.

A collaboration with his emeritus colleague, Chris Bayne, led to the lab’s current focus on the genetics of snail resistance to schistosomes.

In 2019, Mike was the recipient of OSU’s F.A. Gilfillan Memorial Award for Distinguished Scholarship in Science. Link to Mike’s talk here. (starts 5′ into the video).

Mike’s main teaching assignment is Honors and General Genetics (Bi311H and Bi311). He served as chair of the graduate studies committee for 8 years.