Lab News
June, 2024
Phil Sternes defends his PhD on the ecology, evolution, and biomechanics of shark swimming and morphology!
September, 2022
The Higham Lab welcomes Erik Axlid to the lab as a PhD student! Erik recently received his MS degree from Minnesota State University. From his time as an MS student, he recently published a paper titled "Functional and Behavioral Trade-Offs between Terrestrial and Aquatic Locomotion in the Amphibious Fish Kryptolebias marmoratus". Erik's first-year project at UCR is focusing on how ambient flow conditions impacts the feeding biomechanics of fishes.
June, 2021
A paper came out today in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, which resulted from a collaborative NSF-funded working group held back in 2019 in Portland. We illustrate how important ecomechanical models are for understanding phenotypic diversity. Read the open access paper here .
April, 2019
We just published two papers (Functional Ecology and Biological Journal of the Linnean society) on the dynamic interactions between rattlesnakes and kangaroo rats. These papers have been highlighted in Science, Scientific American, The Washington Post, and hundreds of other outlets around the world. Check out the YouTube video below for an example strike, and subsequent maneuver from the kangaroo rat
July, 2018
Mara Hofmann, an undergraduate at the University of Freiburg, is completing her thesis on the landing dynamics of geckos.
July, 2018
Michelle Modert, an undergraduate at the University of Freiburg, is completing her thesis on the impact of surface roughness on the take-off performance of jumping geckos.
July, 2018
The Higham Lab is pleased to annouce that Anthony Cobos will be joining the lab as a PhD student in the fall. Anthony is finishing his MS degree with Bobby Espinoza, and did research with Lee Grismer as an undergraduate. Anthony is interested in gecko physiology, morphology, and biomechanics.
May, 2018
Congratulations to Dr. Vicky Zhuang, who successfully defended her PhD dissertation. Vicky is now Collection Manager at the University of Texas El Paso Biodiversity Collections
March, 2017
Tim Higham has been awarded an Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship and will be on sabbatical in Germany until August 2018. This will be in collaboration with Thomas Speck (University of Freiburg) and Dennis Rodder (Museum Koenig in Bonn).
February, 2017
The Higham Lab hosted a fantastic regional Herpetology conference, which brought together over 75 professors, postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduates together for a day to discuss physiology, biomechanics, conservation, and many other interesting topics. Dr. Lee Grismer captivated the crowd with a stunning plenary lecture
Below is a picture:
Click HERE for a larger version
January, 2017
Our recent paper on Rattlesnake strikes on kangaroo rats in nature has been published in Scientific Reports, and it is receiving lots of press. Check out the YouTube video below for an example strike
December, 2016
Congratulations to Dr. Clint Collins and Dr. Kevin Jagnandan, both PhD students in the Higham Lab who successfully defended their theses! Clint is off to the University of Idaho to work with Dr. Craig McGowan and Kevin is off to Chapman University to work with Dr. Doug Fudge. We can't wait to see the exciting things that come from their postdocs.
September, 2016
Our new paper on the origin of adhesion in geckos just came out in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. Check it out here. This was a great collaboration with Tony Gamble (Marquette University) and Tony Russell (University of Calgary).
Our new perspective paper on the importance of biomechanics in the origin of species has just appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Check it out here. This was a collaboration with Sean Rogers (University of Calgary), Heather Jamniczky (University of Calgary), George Lauder (Harvard), David Reznick (UC Riverside), William Stewart (University of Florida), Brian Langerhans (NC State), and Chris Martin (UNC Chapel Hill).
August, 2016
Congratulations to former postdoc, Bill Stewart!! He recently started a faculty position at Eastern Florida State College
May, 2016
Congratulations to former PhD student, Emily Kane!! She accepted an offer from Georgia Southern University and will start as Assistant Professor in January, 2017. She is accepting graduate school applications for the fall of 2017. Check out her website for more details.
September, 2015
The Higham Lab welcomes two new PhD students, Emily Naylor (from Ohio University) and Jessica Tingle (Cornell University).
December, 2014
Our paper on the evolution of gecko locomotion came out in PNAS. Click HERE to check it out.
William Stewart (former postdoc) is the lead author on a paper about gecko adhesion that just appeared in Biology Letters. It has received considerable attention from the media, including Smithsonian, UCR Today, and Science.
November, 2014
A manuscript detailing the evolution of gecko locomotion by Higham and colleagues was just accepted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
I just returned from Namibia, where I attended the Herpetological Association of Africa (HAA) conference at Gobabeb. It was an excellent conference in an amazing location!
June, 2014
I am currently on the west coast of Vancouver Island teaching a course in Comparative Biomechanics at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. Below is a picture:
Click HERE for a larger version
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March, 2014
Congratulations to Kathleen Foster and Emily Kane! Kathleen's recent paper was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , and Emily's paper was recently accepted in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Congratulations to Kevin Jagnandan, who competed in the 2014 UC Riverside EEOB GradFest event and was awarded best oral presentation!
February, 2014
Congratulations to my PhD student, Emily Kane, who received a 3-year NSF postdoctoral fellowship! She will soon be moving to Cameron Ghalambor's Lab at Colorado State University.
February, 2014
Kathleen Fosters manuscript on muscle function in anoles has been accpeted by the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. It should appear online in early march!
August, 2013
The Higham Lab at UC Riverside is hosting the 2nd annual Southwest Regional SICB meeting for the Divisions of Comparative Biomechanics (DCB) and Vertebrate Morphology (DVM). It will be held on Saturday, October 26th.
June, 2013
Jeff Olberding graduated from the Higham Lab with an MS degree. Jeff begins his PhD this fall in Steve Deban's lab at the University of South Florida
Kathleen Foster passed her qualifying exam!
Tim Higham, Clint Collins, and Ola Birn-Jeffery returned from a successful trip to Namibia!
January, 2013
Jeff Olberding and Kathleen Foster gave excellent talks at the SICB meeting in San Francisco!
Emily Kane gave an excellent poster at the SICB meeting in San Francisco!
November, 2012
Emily Kane is now a PhD candidate!
The Higham Lab welcomes Ola Birn-Jeffery, who is now a postdoc in the lab! She comes from the Royal Veterinary College, where she just finished her PhD with Monica Daley
Tim Higham and Clint Collins returned from a successful trip to Namibia
August, 2012
Tim Higham is heading to the World Congress of Herpetology in Vancouver
July, 2012
Emily Kane's manuscript regarding sculpin morphology appeared in Zoology!!!
June, 2012
Kathleen Foster's manuscript regarding Anolis kinematics appeared in the Journal of Eperimental Biology!!!
April, 2012
Tim Higham has been awarded a 3-year NSF grant!!
The Higham Lab will be welcoming 3 new graduate students in the Fall: Clint Collins (currently an MS student at Georgia Southern), Kevin Jagnandan (current an MS student at Hofstra), and Vicky Zhuang (currently an undergrad at UC Berkeley)!!
March, 2012
Emily Kane, a PhD student in Higham Lab, won the award for best presentation at the annual UCR Gradfest!
January, 2012
Tim Higham returned from a successful trip to South Africa with Krystal Tolley, John Measey, and Anthony Herrel. We collected 4 species of chameleon in across South Africa. Check out the Reptile Speciation Project website for more information.
January, 2012
Emily Kane, Kathleen Foster, and Tim Higham gave oral presentations at the annual SICB meeting in Charleston, SC.
November, 2011
Tim Higham has become an associate editor for Functional Ecology.
July 1, 2011
Tim Higham has been elected as the Secretary of the Division of Comparative Biomechanics (DCB) , which is part of the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (SICB).
July 1, 2011
The Higham Lab has moved to the Department of Biology at the University of California, Riverside .
March 30, 2011
A recent paper by Andrew Clark (former postdoc) and Tim Higham examining stability on slippery surfaces just appeared in the Journal of Experimental Biology (issue 8). It has been highlighted by The New York Times and The Telegraph.
March 9, 2011
A paper by Emily Kane and Tim Higham addressing the integration of locomotion and prey capture in sculpins appeared in the Journal of Experimental Biology today (issue 7). Check it out!
January, 2011
Tim Higham has accepted an invitiation to join the editorial board of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. JEB has an impact factor of 3.816.
December, 2010
Emily Kane was awarded a Sigma Xi grant worth $700!
Emily Kane's paper addressing feeding and locomotion in sculpins has been accepted by the Journal of Experimental Biology
Emily Kane (best oral presentation) and Jeff Olberding (best poster presentation) have picked up awards at the recent Clemson Biological Sciences Annual Student Symposium!
August, 2010
Jeff Olberding and Kathleen Foster are now graduate students in the Higham Lab!
Andrew Clark is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the College of Charleston!
May, 2010
Andrew Clark (current postdoc) has accepted a job offer as Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at the College of Charleston! Congratulations Andrew!! Andrew will be starting in August of 2010.
May, 2010
Tim Higham, Emily Kane (current graduate student), Kathleen Foster (incoming graduate student), and Sandy Kawano (graduate student in Rick Blob’s lab) will be at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island, Canada for a 3-week course in biomechanics. Pictures to come!
March, 2010
Patrick Fuller, an undergraduate researcher in the lab, was accepted to the Population Biology graduate group at the University of California, Davis. He will begin graduate school (Ph.D.) with Dr. Peter Wainwright in the fall of 2010.
Kathleen Foster, an undergraduate at the University of British Columbia, has accepted an offer to attend graduate school in the Higham Lab. She will join the MS program in the fall of 2010.
Jeff Olberding, an undergraduate at the University of Cincinnati, has accepted an offer to attend graduate school in the Higham Lab. He will join the MS program in the fall of 2010. Jeff conducted research in Bruce Jayne's laboratory in Cincinnati.
November, 2009
A paper by Emily Kane, a graduate student in the lab, recently appeared in the Journal of Experimental Biology: “Comparative feeding kinematics and performance of odontocetes: belugas, Pacific white-sided dolphins and long-finned pilot whales”
September, 2009
A recent paper by Higham and Russell regarding tail autotomy in geckos was highlighted in the New York Times in an article by Henry Fountain. Click here to read the story. This manuscript was also highlighted in Discovery News, Science Daily, CBC News, Calgary Herald, University of Calgary website, and the Clemson website.
August, 2009
A recent paper by Russell and Higham regarding clinging in geckos was highlighted in the Washington Post in an article by Ibby Caputo. Click here to read the story. This manuscript was also highlighted in Science Daily, Discovery News, Globe and Mail, the Clemson website, and the University of Calgary website.