Kirsten Isabel Verster
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Education
- B.S. Zoology, summa cum laude, University of Florida. 2014.
- B.A. Spanish literature, cum laude, University of Florida. 2014.
Employment
- Research assistant at University of Arizona Insect Collections, 2014 - 2015.
- Spanish editor for PCP-PIRE eNewsletter, 2014.
- Research assistant at Florida Museum of Natural History, 2012 - 2014.
Background
I grew up in southern Miami, Florida, a humid and beautiful place whose drowsy alligators and friendly manatees helped me foster a special reverence for the natural world. I sought out a diverse set of research experiences as an undergraduate that have led me all over the United States - I've searched for spiders in the Puerto Rican rainforest, chased angry wasps in Michigan, and grappled with trout in a Wyoming fish hatchery in the pursuit of data. My honors thesis was a systematic revision of the Neotropical butterfly genus Tegosa with Dr. Keith Willmott from the Florida Museum of Natural History.
I came to Tucson 'chasing butterflies'. Southern Arizona has the highest insect diversity in the continental US, making it an excellent spot for blacklighting. I spent a month near the Mexican border collecting behavioral data on Noctuid and Arctiid moths, investigating how they respond to predatory stimuli. I am thrilled to continue my scientific journey here in Tucson, where the creosote smells of ash after a monsoon and the sunsets sing. My personal hobbies include jamming on the ukulele, cooking scrumptious vegetarian dishes, and acrylic glass painting.
I came to Tucson 'chasing butterflies'. Southern Arizona has the highest insect diversity in the continental US, making it an excellent spot for blacklighting. I spent a month near the Mexican border collecting behavioral data on Noctuid and Arctiid moths, investigating how they respond to predatory stimuli. I am thrilled to continue my scientific journey here in Tucson, where the creosote smells of ash after a monsoon and the sunsets sing. My personal hobbies include jamming on the ukulele, cooking scrumptious vegetarian dishes, and acrylic glass painting.
Research Interests
Behavior, coevolution (especially parasitism), genomics
Honors and Awards
- 2015: University of Arizona University Fellowship.
- 2015: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
- 2013: REU Fellowship, NSF and Florida Museum of Natural History.
- 2013: REU Fellowship, NSF and University of Puerto Rico - El Verde.
- 2012: REU Fellowship, NSF and University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.
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Left to right: Golden-eyed Polistes fuscatus from Ann Arbor, MI; columns of Tegosa etia; aligning Tegosa CO1 genes by hand for my undergraduate thesis; showing children Dynastes beetles for the Arizona Insect Festival; Eumorpha moth found while blacklighting in Madera Canyon, AZ. Photos taken by Kirsten Verster.