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Contact me: lrodman@hawaii.edu

    I am a graduate student at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa.  I received my Bachelor's degree in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana.  My Master's research is concerned primarily with the systematics of fishes.  I am interested in using morphology to elucidate phylogenetic relationships among species and groups of species.  I am currently engaged in an investigation into the potential utility of the canals, pores, and papillae of the cranial lateralis to distinguish species and determine relationships among several species and sub-genera of cardinalfishes in the genus Apogon (Family: Apogonidae).

    As an evolutionary biologist, it is only natural that I am equally interested in the processes of evolution, the resulting biodiversity, and the conservation of that biodiversity.  No where in the world is evolution as wonderfully illustrated across time and geographic space as it is in Hawai'i.  I am blessed to have the opportunity to study the evolution of the Islands' biodiversity and participate in its conservation.