Tom Thomas

I am a fourth year biology student on the premed track. As a pre med student, I have found the human body systems to be an interesting topic, which relates concepts such as form fitting function. I also found interest in evolution as a whole and like how it also relates similar concepts such as form fitting function when it comes to the many diverse animal biotas in the world, including ourselves. As a URP student working under Dr. Helmus, I hope to observe universal patterns of biodiversity in various species, such as the Anole Lizards from the Caribbean, and use the information I gathered to get an idea of when and where the species diverged to become their own separate species throughout the course of time. I hope to both use and integrate information relating to ecology, such as the species’ niches, and biology, such as the species’ morphology and genetic makeup, to observe universal patterns of biodiversity in their evolutionary histories as a whole. At the end of the day, I hope to gain more experience in a lab based setting and do what I can to contribute to the research project at hand.