PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Postdoctoral Associate. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. May 2019 – Present.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 2019.
M.S. Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University. 2013.
B.S. Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, Summa Cum Laude, University Honors and Departmental Honors. 2011.
PUBLICATIONS
Moran, R. L., Jaggard, J. B., Roback, E. Y., Kenzior, A., Rohner, N., Kowalko, J. E., Ornelas-García, P., McGaugh, S. E., Keene, A. C. In review. Hybridization underlies localized trait evolution in cavefish.
O’Gorman, M., Thakur, S., Imrie, G., Moran, R. L., Rohner, N., McGaugh, S. E., Keene, A. C., and Kowalko, J. E. In press. Pleiotropic function of the albinism gene oca2 reveals co-evolution of albinism and sleep loss. Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.077
Chang, C.-H., Catchen, J. M., Moran, R. L., Rivera-Colon, A., Wang, Y.-C. and Fuller, R. C. 2021. Sequence analysis and ontogenetic expression patterns of cone opsin genes in the bluefin killifish (Lucania goodei). Journal of Heredity. esab2021. doi:10.1093/jhered/esab017
Warren, W. C., Aspiras, A., Boggs, T. E., Borowsky, R., Carlson, B. M., Damen, F., Ferrufino, E., Gross, J. B., Hillier, L., Hu, Z., J., Keene, A. C., Kowalko, J. E., Tomlinson, C., Kremitzki, M. Lemieux, M. E., Lindsay-Graves, T., McGaugh, S. E., Miller, J. T., Mommersteeg, M., Moran, R. L., Peu, R., Rice, E., Riddle, M., Sifuentes-Romero, I., Stanhope, B. A., Tabin, C., Thakur, S., Yoshiyuki, Y., Rohner, N. 2021. A chromosome level genome of Astyanax mexicanus surface fish for comparing population-specific genetic differences contributing to trait evolution. Nature Communications. 12, 1447. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21733-z NCOMMS-20-25279
Reid, B. N., Moran, R. L., Kopak, C. J., Fitzpatrick, S. W. 2021. Rapture-ready darters: sequence capture outperforms whole-genome data regardless of reference genome in Etheostoma. Molecular Ecology Resources. doi:10.1111/1755-0998.13275
Moran, R. L., Catchen, J. M., and Fuller, R. C. 2019. Genomic resources for darters (Percidae: Etheostominae) provide insight into postzygotic barriers implicated in speciation. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 37(3):711-729. doi:10.1093/molbev/msz260
Moran, R. L., Zhou, M., Catchen, J. M., and Fuller, R. C. 2018. Hybridization and postzygotic isolation promote reinforcement of male mating preferences in a diverse group of fishes with traditional sex roles. Ecology and Evolution. 8(18): 9282-9294. doi:10.1002/ece3.4434
Moran, R. L., and Fuller, R. C. 2018. Agonistic character displacement of genetically based male colour patterns across darters. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 285: 20181248. doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.1248
Moran, R. L., *Soukup, R. M., Zhou, M., and Fuller, R. C. 2018. Egg viability decreases rapidly with time since ovulation in the rainbow darter: implications for costs of choosiness. Journal of Fish Biology. 92(2):532–536. doi:10.1111/jfb.13523
* Undergraduate co-author.
Moran, R. L. and Fuller, R. C. 2018. Male-driven reproductive and agonistic character displacement in darters and its implications for allopatric speciation. Current Zoology. 64(1):101-113. doi:10.1093/cz/zox069
Special Column on male competition and speciation.
Moran, R. L., Zhou, M., Catchen, J. M., and Fuller, R. C. 2017. Male and female contributions to behavioral isolation in darters as a function of genetic distance and color distance. Evolution. 71(10):2428-2444. doi:10.1111/evo.13321
Moran, R. L., von Ende, C. N., and King, B. H. 2014. Seasonal colour change and antipredator behaviour in Etheostoma (Percidae). Journal of Fish Biology. 84(4):1188-1194. doi:10.1111/jfb.12327
Moran, R. L., von Ende, C. N., and King, B. H. 2013. Mate choice copying in two species of darters (Percidae: Etheostoma). Behaviour. 150(11):1255-1274. doi:10.1163/1568539X-00003092
Moran, R. L. 2012. Breeding fantail darters in captivity. American Currents. 37(4):21-22.
HONORS, AWARDS, & FELLOWSHIPS
| 2021 | Chicago Fellows postdoctoral fellowship – University of Chicago |
| 2020 | Fitch Award – Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) |
| 2019 | Hamilton Award, Honorable Mention – Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) |
| 2019 | Emerson Memorial Award – School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) |
| 2018, 2017 | Best Talk by a PhD Candidate – Graduates in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (GEEB) Research Symposium, UIUC |
| 2017, 2016 | Teacher Ranked as Excellent by Students – UIUC |
| 2016 | Spring Semester Fellowship – Program in Ecology, Evolution, & Conservation Biology, UIUC |
| 2013-2015 | Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), Vertically Integrated Training with Genomics (VInTG) – National Science Foundation (NSF) |
| 2013 | Outstanding Women and Gender Advocacy Student Award – Northern Illinois University (NIU) |
| 2012-2013 | University Fellowship – NIU |
| 2011 | University Honors – NIU |
| 2011 | Departmental Honors – Department of Biological Sciences, NIU |
| 2011 | August M. Gorenz Award – Department of Biological Sciences, NIU |
| 2010 | Dennis Larsen Memorial Scholarship – Department of Biological Sciences, NIU |
| 2010 | Scholar Award for First Year Physics Students – Physics Graduate Students Committee, Department of Physics, NIU |
| 2007 | Centennial Scholarship – NIU |
FUNDING
| 2021 | Chicago Fellows research award – University of Chicago ($20,000) |
| 2021 | Evolutionary, Ecological, and Conservation Genomics (EECG) Research Award – American Genetics Association (AGA) ($5,900) |
| 2018 | Student Research Award (SRA) – American Society of Naturalists (ASN) ($2,000) |
| 2018 | Graduate Research Excellent Grant – Rosemary Grant Advanced award (GREG-RGA), Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) ($2,600) |
| 2018 | Summer Research Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($1,000) |
| 2018 | Harley J. Van Cleave Research Award – School of Integrative Biology (SIB), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) ($1,000) |
| 2018 | Conference Travel Grant – Graduate College, UIUC ($350) |
| 2018 | Conference Travel Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($600) |
| 2018 | Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (SICB) Grant in Aid of Research ($960) |
| 2018 | Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research ($1,000) |
| 2017 | Harley J. Van Cleave Research Award – School of Integrative Biology (SIB), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) ($1,000) |
| 2017 | Summer Research Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($1,000) |
| 2017 | Conference Travel Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($500) |
| 2017 | Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant – National Science Foundation (NSF) ($20,618) |
| 2017 | IGERT Student Research Grant – NSF ($5,000) |
| 2016 | Conference Travel Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($500) |
| 2016 | Phillip W. Smith Memorial Award – Natural History Survey, UIUC ($980) |
| 2015 | Dissertation Travel Grant – Graduate College, UIUC ($3,240) |
| 2015 | Francis M. & Harlie M. Clark Research Support Grant – SIB, UIUC ($1000) |
| 2015 | Conference Travel Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($170) |
| 2015 | Summer Research Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($500) |
| 2014 | Summer Research Grant – PEEC, UIUC ($1,000) |
| 2012 | Graduate Student Conference Travel Grant – Department of Biological Sciences, NIU ($225) |
| 2012 | Graduate Research Grant – Department of Biological Sciences, NIU ($300) |
| 2011 | Graduate Research Grant – Department of Biological Sciences, NIU ($450) |
Rachel Moran 