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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.

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Faculty & Staff

John McCormack viewing a tray of birds

John McCormack

Director and Curator of the Moore Laboratory of Zoology; Professor, Biology

Dr. 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, he is a champion of museum collections and their potential for understanding and reversing the biodiversity crisis.

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Whitney Tsai Nakashima

Research Associate, Moore Lab of Zoology and Genomics Center

Whitney has experience with genomics and museum collections. She is currently a PhD student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program at UCLA where she is studying the genetics of color...

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Jenny Wong

Project, Outreach and Business Coordinator, Moore Lab of Zoology

Jenny heads the Moore Lab's outreach activities, planning tours and special events with local schools, collaborators, and the community. She has a background working with environmental NGOs and...

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Brenda Ramirez

Research Technician II, FLAPP

Brenda has experience working with large citizen science datasets and incorporating them into spatial models to understand species distributions over thousands of years. Having recently graduated with...

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Russell Campbell

Research Technician, oBird

Russell has explored his love of animals through a wide variety of lab and field experiences. During his free time he prefers to be outside searching for wildlife with friends and practicing his...

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Alana Pizarro

Research and Curatorial Assistant, Moore Lab of Zoology and Genomics Center

Alana studies the hybridization of two species of Calocitta Magpie-Jays and has been conducting this research since she was a Biology undergraduate at Occidental. She currently assists with...

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Diego Blanco

Outreach and Research Assistant, Moore Lab of Zoology

Diego Blanco is a birder and naturalist from Los Angeles, California. He enjoys hiking, camping, and documenting biodiversity through photography and illustration. Diego graduated from Cornell...

Undergraduate Students

Amelia Barnard '25

Divergence among Wine-throated and Bumblebee Hummingbirds & museum specimen preparation

Jodhan Fine '25

Geographic variation in Strong-billed Woodcreepers

Lizzie Hutson '25

Collections data management

Avery Jones '25

Genomics Center data collection and extraction for the Mexican Bird Resurvey Project

Soren Lubin '25

Skeleton Collection

Isabel Moorhead '28

Genomics Center data collection and extraction for the Mexican Bird Resurvey Project

Sophia Spehar '28

Collections data management

High School Students & Volunteers

Molly Halterman

Museum specimen preparation

JiaLiann Mackey

Bird Collection

Alex Cho

Bird Collection

Calvin Bonn

Museum specimen preparation

Jolee Kuo

Bird Collection

Student Alumni: Where Are They Now?

Paloma Strong '22

Taxidermist, Prey Taxidermy

Eliza Kirsch '22

PhD Student, Marine & Environmental Biology, USC & NHMLA

Kelsey Reckling '22

PhD Student, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, UCLA

Maeve Secor '22

PhD Student, USC & NHMLA

Emily Liang '21

Research Assistant, Brown University

Rowdy Freeland '19

Forestry Technician, Great Basin Institute

Josh Medina '19

PhD Student & NSF Graduate Research Fellow, UMass-Amherst

Natalie Myers '18

Master's Student in Zoology, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Betty Du '18

PhD Student, Microbiology & Immunology, SUNY Stony Brook

Devon DeRaad '17

PhD Student, Ecology & Evolution, Kansas University

Dr. Emily Applewhite '16

Pediatric Physical Therapist (DPT, SFSU)

Dr. Caitlyn Lara '15

Veterinarian (D.V.M., UC Davis)

Dr. Jessie F. Salter '14

NSF Postdoc Fellow, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles; PhD LSU

Dr. Madhvi Venkatraman '13

NSF Postdoc Fellow, University of South Florida; PhD Smithsonian Zoo

Alex Broad '13

Landscape Designer at Einwiller Kuehl

Dr. Andrea Lim '13

Associate Scientist, Armata Pharmaceuticals

Ellie Heywood '12

Marine Technician, New York Bight Monitoring Project