Alexandria DiGiacomo
Graduate Student
Alexandria's research interests center on the macroevolution of Aves and the evolution of morphological traits during the transition from theropods to birds. Her prior work investigated this in a phylogenetic context by seeking to reconstruct the relationships and divergence times of extinct and extant alcid taxa. As part of the Edwards lab, she is interested in understanding the genomic changes associated with the evolution of unique morphological traits in Aves through the integration of evolutionary biology, genomics, and developmental biology.
In 2013, Alexandria received her Bachelor’s of Science from Purdue University in Animal Science. Subsequently, she spent time working as a veterinary technician and in biotech in a bacterial culturing lab. From there she went on to pursue her Master’s Degree, where she performed research in reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships of extinct and extant Pan-Alcidae species utilizing morphological, molecular, and stratigraphic age data. Alexandria received her Master’s of Science degree in 2018 from Montclair State University, prior to joining the Edwards lab.