Who Am I

Hi all,

My name is Alyssa Lawler and I am a rising senior at The University of Michigan. I'm from Rochester, Michigan, which is about an hour northeast of Ann Arbor. After some soul searching, I decided to major in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. My go-to TV shows are things like Planet Earth and River Monsters and my favorite place to be is in a zoo or a natural history museum (and I am lucky enough to do my research in the UM Museum of Zoology!). I am fascinated with the diversity of the organisms around me and the evolutionary mechanisms behind it. My main research interests include speciation, hybridization, and biodiversity. I will be applying to PhD programs in these areas this fall, perhaps specializing in primate evolution. I'm hoping that my career will eventually lead me back to academia as a professor and researcher. When I'm not busy with schoolwork and other chores I like to dance. I'm on EnCore, a hip hop dance crew on campus, and I teach hip hop, tap, and ballet to kids at a studio in Belleville, MI. My other pass-times include playing with my pet rabbit, learning new songs on the ukulele, boating, and hanging out with my friends and family. One interesting thing about me is that I spent seven years training to play the bassoon. Because of this, I can easily read bass clef, but not the more common treble clef.