Christy M. McCain

Christy is a Ph.D. candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology. She graduated summa cum laude from Humboldt State University, California, with a B.S. in wildlife biology and a B.A. in fine arts (1994). Christy was a Peace Corps volunteer in La Mosquitia, Honduras, 1994-1996, working in natural resources and protected areas conservation.

Her research interests are integrated between the fields of ecology and systematics, as she is interested in tropical mammalian systematics, and large scale ecological processes including diversity patterns, null ecological models, elevational patterns, biogeography, and niche modeling. Two current research projects involve extensive fieldwork studying small mammals within the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica. A third project uses historical collection records to model the ecological niches of Costa Rican and Great Basin (southwestern United States) small mammals.

Christy received the Anna M. Jackson award from the American Society of Mammalogists for excellence in a student paper and has presented aspects of her research at national meetings and in published papers. Christy plans to pursue an academic career synthesizing research, teaching, and conservation with the main goal of achieving a better understanding of biodiversity and ecological patterns in the world.

Mentor: Norman A. Slade, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Robert M. Timm, Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology