Brian O'Toole
Former Museum Specialist
Personal Website
Education
Fordham University, Bronx, NY.
- M.S., Biology concentration in Ecology and Systematics, degree awarded May 2020.
Fordham University, Bronx, NY.
- Advanced certificate in Conservation Biology, degree awarded May 2020.
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
- B.S., Biology concentration in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, degree awarded May 2013.
Research Interests
Prior to pursuing his Master's degree, Brian worked as a Museum Specialist in the Mammalogy Department. At Fordham, he was co-advised by Dr. Evon Hekkala and Dr. Nancy Simmons at the AMNH. His research interests include conservation biology/genomics and understanding how wildlife populations respond to anthropogenic influences. His thesis research focused on the phylogeographic patterns of archival specimens from natural history collections, more specifically, on conservation genomics through the lens of a broad ranging African fruit bat, Eidolon helvum, that is highly susceptible to different anthropogenic effects.
Brian's current interests are at the intersection of evolutionary biology, disease ecology, and conservation. He is interested not only in wildlife, but in human-wildlife conflict. Future endeavors will hopefully involve researching wildlife populations and the viruses they host and transmit, combining studies of disease and host ecology with evolutionary analyses using modern genomics tools.
Teaching Experience
Graduate Teaching Fellow and Instructor of Record at Fordham University
- Introductory Biology Lab I & II - Fall 2018/2019 Spring 2019/2020
- Ecology Lab - Spring 2020