Biography

After a short stint studying political science in college, Hopi Hoekstra switched her focus to biology.  She received her B.A. in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Washington. She completed postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona, and, in 2003, she joined the faculty at UC San Diego. Three years later, she moved to Harvard University, where she is the Agassiz Professor of Zoology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. Hoekstra is also Curator of Mammals at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Dr. Hoekstra is interested in the genetic basis of variation in natural populations of mammals.  Members of her lab use a variety of techniques, both in the lab and in the field, to address questions about the evolution of morphological and behavioral diversity. Hoekstra’s research has received wide recognition and recently she was profiled in the New York Times.

 
Find out more about Dr. Hoekstra’s research at her lab website.

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