Moore Lab staff have diverse expertise in birds, genomics, geographic information systems, and the analysis of big biodiversity data. Students are trained in these techniques in the broader context of a liberal arts education to foster critical thinking, synthesis of ideas, interdisciplinary applications, and international collaboration.
John McCormack uses museum specimens and genomes to study the evolutionary history of birds, focusing especially on how both ancient landscape changes and more recent human-caused environmental changes affect birds’ distributions, appearance, and DNA. As Director of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology and Curator of its bird and mammal collection, Dr. McCormack is a champion of museum collections and their potential for understanding and reversing the biodiversity crisis.
