A budding herpetologist

Hi there!

I’m John Nguyen, a first-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Adam Stuckert's lab at the University of Houston. I earned my B.A. in Environmental Biology from Columbia University ('23) and was recently an NSF RaMP Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panamá. My research focused on the mechanisms driving female-limited pattern polymorphisms in Anolis lizards. As an aspiring herpetologist, I aim to unravel the evolutionary processes that generate phenotypic diversity in amphibians and reptiles. For my Ph.D., I’m investigating the evolution of conspicuous coloration in caecilians—a major tetrapod group that remains largely unexplored in this context.

As a first-generation, queer Southeast Asian-American, I’m also deeply committed to increasing accessibility and advocating for marginalized communities in ecology and evolutionary biology. Outside of research, I love film photography, hiking, printmaking, and jamming on my bass clarinet.

Feel free to reach out: jv.nguyener@gmail.com