Team

Lab group photo Halloween party TAMU tailgate Pumpkin carving Lab meeting Lab meeting Whiteboard work Conference

Principal Investigator

Heath Blackmon
Heath Blackmon

Heath earned his Ph.D. in 2015 from the Demuth lab at UT Arlington, where he studied the evolution of sex chromosomes and karyotypes in Coleoptera. He then completed a postdoc at the University of Minnesota with Emma Goldberg and Yaniv Brandvein. He opened the Blackmon Lab at Texas A&M in the fall of 2017. Curriculum Vitae

Research Staff

LT Blackmon
LT Blackmon

Founding member of the lab. LT assists with fieldwork and is currently working on morphometrics of Chrysina species.

Kenzie Laird
Kenzie Laird

Research tech responsible for model organism care. Kenzie is also working on discrete trait PCMs and Betta Fish aggression. She is also a champion archer.

Graduate Students

Sean Chien
Sean Chien

Joined 2022 · Biology Ph.D. · Sean is broadly interested in evolutionary biology and Coleoptera. When he is not in the lab he loves fishing. Website

Megan Copeland
Megan Copeland

Joined 2022 · Biology Ph.D. · Megan is interested in genome structure and has a background in genomics, bioinformatics, and forensics. Website

Andres Barboza Pereira
Andres Barboza Pereira

Joined 2023 · Genetics Ph.D. · Andres specializes in theoretical evolution and population genetics, with a focus on bioinformatics and genomics. His current research is focused on assembling scarab beetle genomes and developing computational tools to support the conservation of Chondrichthyes (sharks and rays). Website

Kaya Harper
Kaya Harper

Joined 2023 · Biology Ph.D. · Kaya's research explores how environmental variation shapes genomic architecture, epigenetic regulation, and phenotypic plasticity across natural populations. She is particularly interested in how evolutionary processes interact with human-driven environmental change to influence adaptation, resilience, and vulnerability under shifting climatic conditions. Outside the lab, she enjoys running, hiking, scuba diving, and exploring the kinds of dynamic landscapes that continually inspire her work. Website

Shelbie Weaver
Shelbie Weaver

Joined 2025 · EEB Ph.D. · Shelbie is interested in the evolution and ecology of crustaceans, studying crab freshwater invasion. Google Scholar

Kiedon Bryant
Kiedon Bryant

Joined 2025 · Biology Ph.D. · Kiedon is interested in using both empirical and theoretical approaches to study the behavioral ecology of fishes and the evolution of mating systems. Google Scholar

Post-Bacc Students

Meghann McConnell
Meghann McConnell

Joined 2025 · Meghann is broadly interested in comparative phylogenetic approaches focused on questions about chromosome number transitions to alternative meiosis mechanisms. She is also interested in creating novel model approaches for understanding trait evolution.

Undergraduate Researchers

Bella Steele
Bella Steele

Bella is working on a project that focuses on computational and evolutionary work.

Sarah Schmalz
Sarah Schmalz

Sarah Schmalz is a senior Biology major and University Honors student interested in the intersection of evolutionary genomics and bioinformatics. Her current research focuses on extending mathematical models for sex-autosome fusions by incorporating fixation weights to better predict genomic architecture.

  • Emily Clark
  • Olivia Deiterman
  • Riya Girish
  • Anna Klein
  • Rachel Koehl
  • Mallory Murphy
  • Alex Rathsack

Alumni

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