Robert Cooper and Erin Tofflemier recently moved on from the Shaffer Lab to faculty positions at Virginia Tech University.
Robert and Erin received their PhDs in the Shaffer lab (Robert was a joint student with our lab and Greg Grether). They both worked on multiple grants and projects that focused on developing and using landscape genomics approaches to manage and conserve amphibians, particularly California tiger salamanders, across California. They were funded on grants from both the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and they have deep ties to agency partners in central and southern California.
Following their PhDs, Erin and Robert stayed on to complete postdoctoral research in our lab– and then Erin went on become Associate Director of the California Conservation Genomics Project, a position she carried with her to Virginia. Both Erin and Robert are still actively working on the California tiger salamander system, as well as helping wrap up projects on spadefoots, pond turtles, and several other taxa. And that’s fabulous news for our endangered species in the state!