The Spring 2026 Biology Seminar Series continues with a talk from Dr. Stepfanie Aguillón, “Understanding the speciation process through phenotypes, genotypes, and behavior.”
Stepfanie Aguillón is a broadly trained evolutionary biologist interested in understanding the process of speciation in nature. Her research integrates genomic sequencing with organismal biology to unravel the mechanisms involved in the evolution of reproductive isolation. In particular, she leverages natural hybridization—interbreeding between distinct taxa—to study mating decisions in action. Stepfanie will discuss her work in northern flickers focused on the evolution of color differences and her work in swordtail fish focused on the genomic consequences of hybridization.