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Ryan A. Ellingson, M.S. 2006; Ph.D. 2012 (UCLA)

 

Ryan's M.S. thesis, "Variable development versus cryptic speciation: Phylogeography and evolutionary history of the sea slugs Alderia and Costasiella (Opisthobranchia: Sacoglossa)," concerned molecular evolution and speciation in gastropods exhibiting variable development.  He combined genetic studies with field work in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean.  He completed his Ph.D. at UCLA in 2012, and returned to the lab as a post-doctoral fellow.  His M.S. thesis yielded data that ultimately contributed to five co-authored publications, including three to which he added additional data as a postdoc.

While an M.S. student, Ryan was awarded a grant from the Lerner-Gray fund for marine research to

support field work in the Caribbean.  He collected specimens in Panama, Jamaica, and Bermuda as part

of his M.S. research on population connectivity among Caribbean islands.  He was partly funded by an

NSF-funded GK-12 fellowship to assist an area high school science teacher.  As a postdoc, he co-taught a field course on marine heterobranch taxonomy at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Station in Bocas del Toro, Panama.  He is presently an adjunct assistant professor teaching at UCLA.

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Ryan won awards for his research presentations while at CSULA including:

  • 1st place, 2005 California State University Student Research Competition (Sacramento)

  • Best student talk, 2005 Southern California Academy of Sciences Meeting (Los Angeles)

  • Best student poster, 2005 Western Society of Naturalists meeting (Monterey, CA)

  • CSULA Graduate Student Alumni Association Scholarship, 2006.

 

He gave 5 presentations at international conferences during his M.S., including:

  • Western Society of Naturalists 2004 (Rohnert Park, CA)

  • American Malacological Society 2005 (Pacific Grove, CA)

  • Evolution Meeting 2005 (Fairbanks, Alaska)

  • Western Society of Naturalists 2005 (Monterey, CA)

  • Larval 2006 (Oregon Institute of Marine Biology)

 

Current Contact -- rellingson@ucla.edu

Website -- http://www.ryanellingson.com

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