About

My name is Isaac and I’m an Integrative Behavioral Biologist. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. Please see the Research and Teaching pages to see more about courses I teach and the questions being investigated in my lab.

Prior to beginning my position at Millersville, I was a postdoctoral researcher with Dr. Ian Hamilton at Ohio State University. There I studied the establishment, resilience, and robustness of animal social networks. My work in Columbus at Ohio State focuses on the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher, as well as field-based research at Lake Tanganyika. This work generally focused on how network structure forms, how they persist in the face of perturbations, and how individuals in groups respond to those perturbations.

From August 2016 to August 2018 I was a NSF postdoctoral fellow (PRFB) at University of California, Davis. My supervisor there was Dr. Rebecca Calisi, and this project focused on the impact of endocrine disrupting compounds on development, reproductive behavior, and parental investment using the Western Mosquitofish as a model system.

I completed my Ph.D. in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at The Ohio State University, and graduated in the spring of 2015. My dissertation work focused on direct and third-party interactions in social groups of the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish Neolamprologus pulcher.

After graduating, I lectured at Ohio State where I taught Fish Ecology (EEOB 5430), Field Behavioral Ecology (EEOB 3420), and Introductory Biology for nonmajors (BIOL 1101).

Prior to beginning to graduate school I was a high school science teacher at Dunedin High School in Dunedin, FL.  I also coached the schools track and cross country teams.  Before teaching I attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, OH; there I received a BA in Biology and an Education minor.

When not in the lab, I enjoy triathlons, mountain biking, backpacking, and essentially anything else outdoors.  I also love cooking, art, reading, and a good concert.

I currently serve as Director of the Millersville University Center for Environmental Science (MUCES) and co-Director of the MU Watershed Educational Training Institutue (WETi). I am also a contributor for SciAll.org.