Devon DeRaad

Devon DeRaad is a 2018-2022 Self Graduate Fellow pursuing a Ph.D. ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. (2017) in biology from Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA. At Occidental, DeRaad was a first-team All-American baseball player, a residential assistant, and undergraduate researcher in the Moore Laboratory of Zoology. As a graduate student, he is developing a dissertation focused on uncovering the role of gene-flow in shaping patterns of avian speciation in both island and continental systems. He hopes to develop a research program that will leverage emerging genomic sequencing technologies to ask previously untestable questions, leading to an eventual unified understanding of the fine-scale changes occurring in the genome during speciation and the processes driving these changes. As a scientist, he is committed to creating radical spaces where self-expression and authentic connections can facilitate mutual understanding and acknowledgment of universal truths.

Mentor: Robert Moyle, Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology