Department News
Lucy Tran
- Ph.D. student
Contact information
- University of Michigan
2095 Museums Building
1109 Geddes Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079 - Phone: (734) 763-7943
- Fax: (734) 763-0544
- Email: lucaptra@umich.edu
Advisor
Fields of study
Spatial patterns and processes of speciation
Research interests
My research uses geometric morphometric techniques (studying the variation and change in the size and shape of skulls) to assess how ecological factors drive speciation in African and Asian colobine monkeys. Divergence in ecological traits that mediate species' interactions with their environment in response to, for example, interspecific competition or ecological opportunity (e.g., traits that are functionally related to trophic use) can implicate natural selection in generating species richness. I am also interested in applying coalescent-based approaches to inferring the phylogeny of colobine monkeys and the phylogeographic history of one colobine group, the endangered douc langurs of Southeast Asia.
Academic background
B.S. Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution with minor in Geography/Environmental Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007
UM affiliation
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Museum of Zoology
- College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Related news
EEB graduate student Lucy Tran was awarded the UMMZ E.C. Walker Scholarship and a research grant from the American Society of Mammalogists.
You can read about U-M EEB graduate students' summer research experiences from around the world on the new EEBlog.
EEB Ph.D. students 
