Member, NASA Astrobiology Institute (1998–present) (http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/). Research Associate, National Museum of National History, Washington, DC (1998–). Co-Chair, Evolutionary Genomics Focus Group. NASA Astrobiology Institute (2000–) Chairman, Genomes and Evolution 2004, Annual meeting of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution and American Genetic Association. Coordinator for the Caribbean, The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species of amphibians and Global Amphibian Assessment (2001-) Director, Astrobiology Summer Program, Pennsylvania State University (2002–). Member, IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group,2005–) Associate Editor, BMC Evolutionary Biology (2008–) Co-Director, TimeTree Project and Consortium: www.timetree.org (2005–) Member, Editorial Board of BMC Proceedings (2007–) Member, Editorial Board of Novitates Caribaea (2007–)
Selected awards, fellowships, and named lectures
Elected Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2009
Top Ten New Species, International Institute for Species Exploration, 2009
Science News of the Year, Life, Science News Magazine, 2008
Top Ten New Organisms, Wired Magazine, 2008 Who’s Who in the World, 2008; Who’s Who in America (Marquis), 2008-
Philips Distinguished Lectureship, Haverford College, 2003
Karling Lectureship, Mycological Society of America, 2002
Darwin Lecture (Natural History Museum, London), 2001
Faculty Associates Teaching Award, Pennsylvania State University, 1997
Recognition of published works
H-index = 42; total citations = 6,555 (ISI, 2009) Article in top 1% of all-time most-cited articles in Nature (ISI)
All-time most-cited research* article in BMC Evolutionary Biology (of 2,275 articles; ISI)
All-time most-cited research article in Comptes Rendus Biologies (of 1,055 articles; ISI)
All-time most-cited research* article in Zootaxa (of 5,726 articles; ISI)
*i.e., excluding software notices and checklists Nature Champagne Writing Award, for best News and Views (2003) Editor’s Choice, Biology Letters (2008) Editor’s Choice, Science (2002)
Editor’s Choice and Top 100 Cited Papers, BMC Journals, 2001–2002
Hot Paper in Biology, Institute for Scientific Information, 2000
Current research funding
Bioinformatics of molecular timetrees (2009-2012, National Science Foundation) Signatures of life on Earth and beyond (2009-2014, National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Herpetofaunal surveys of Haiti (2009-2012, National Science Foundation) Systematics and biogeography of scolecophidian snakes (2008-2011, National Science Foundation) Exploring the possibilities for life through astrobiology(2007-2010, National Science Foundation)
Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Cuba*, Dominica, Dominican Republic*, Grenadines, Guadeloupe, Haiti*, Jamaica*, Martinique, Montserrat, Nevis, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Croix, Saint John, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Thomas, Saint Vincent, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, and the United States.
*Expeditions
Research interests
Research in the Hedges Lab involves evolutionary biology, often exploring connections with Earth history in diverse groups of organisms and time periods. Molecular sequence data are frequently used to build an evolutionary framework for additional, synthetic analyses that may involve genes and structures. The overall goal is to learn more about the natural world,
and especially the major patterns and underlying mechanisms that have shaped
the evolutionary history of life in the broadest sense. These include speciation, adaptive radiation, lineage diversification, historical biogeography, and mass extinction. Of particular interest are global changes in the planetary environment such as continental breakup, climate change, and extraterrestrial impacts, and their effect on the evolution of life.
Biological disciplines represented include
astrobiology, biodiversity, bioinformatics, conservation, ecology, genomics, molecular evolution,
natural history, paleontology, phylogenetics, and systematics. Other disciplines represented are astronomy, climatology,
and geology.
Other academic interests
The biodiversity of the West Indies and its conservation,
especially the amphibians and reptiles (see www.caribherp.org). The discovery of America
as recorded in maps and artwork (especially woodblock and copperplate
prints) of the Renaissance, and development of methods for refining historical timelines (see www.caribmap.org
and www.printclock.org).
Publications
Approximately 225 articles and two books or monographs
Go HERE for complete list
