I am broadly interested in avian adaptation, coloration, diversification, and hybridization. I earned my Bachelor of Science degree (2012) at the University of New Mexico, where I was formally introduced to ornithology and museum-based science. As a Master’s student at the University of New Mexico (2015), I studied the genetic basis and evolutionary maintenance of a melanic color polymorphism in the Vermilion Flycatcher. As aPhD student in Dr. Scott Edwards’ lab at Harvard University, I plan to study the physiological genomics, introgression and phylogeography of neotropical birds.

Publications

1. Schmitt, C. J., et al. Pre-industrial melanism: The origin, maintenance, and genetic basis of an urban melanic morph of the vermilion flycatcher. Evolution, (in press).

2. Schmitt, C. J., et al. 2013. The expanding known range of Stygian Owl (Asio stygius) in the Andes. Boletín Informativo de la Unión de Ornitólogos del Perú (UNOP) 8 (2): 37-45.

3. Schmitt, C. J., et al. 2013. Avifauna of a relict Podocarpus forest in the Cachil Valley, Northwest Peru. Cotinga, 35: 15-23.

4. Sánchez, C., … Schmitt, C. J. … et al. 2012. New and noteworthy Records from Northwestern Peru, Department of Tumbes. Boletín Informativo de la Unión de Ornitólogos del Perú (UNOP), 7 (2): 18 - 36.

5. Benham, … Schmitt, C. J. … et al. 2010. Satellite imagery reveals new critical habitat for endangered bird species in the high Andes of Peru. Endangered Species Research, 13 (2): 145-157.

Field Work, Andean Forest, Peru, 2017