Meghan Anne Duffy is an American biologist and the Susan S. Kilham Collegiate Professor of

Ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and

Evolutionary Biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. She focuses on the causes and consequences of

parasitism Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The en ...

in natural populations of lake populations. In 2019, she created a task force to examine factors that influence the mental health and well-being of graduate students at the University of Michigan.

Education

Duffy earned a Bachelors Biological Sciences from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

in 2000. She completed her graduate studies at Kellogg Biological Station and

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

. In 2006, she was awarded a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in Zoology and from the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior (EEB) Program.

Career and research

In 2006, she was appointed an

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

(NSF)

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. In 2008 she joined

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

as an assistant professor. She worked on the parasites that feed on small freshwater crustaceans (''

Daphnia ''Daphnia'' is a genus of small planktonic crustaceans, in length. ''Daphnia'' are members of the Order (biology), order Anomopoda, and are one of the several small aquatic crustaceans commonly called water fleas because their Saltation (gait), ...

''), using them as a "model system for understanding host-parasite interactions in general". She found that ecological context was important when gauging epidemic size, and that when some parasites are "battling an epidemic of a deadly parasite, less resistance can sometimes be better than more". In 2012 she won the

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. T ...

, which was presented to her by

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

. Duffy joined

in 2012. Her research concentrates on rapid evolutionary responses in novel host-parasite associations. She is currently researching the influences of food webs and eco-evolutionary dynamics on host-parasite interactions and multi-host, multi-parasite interactions. Duffy is concerned about cuts to basic research funding.

Public engagement

Duffy established the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) Mentor Match, which pairs undergraduate students from

minority-serving institution In the higher education system of the United States, minority-serving institution (MSI) is a descriptive term for universities and colleges that enroll a significant percentage of students from minority groups. Definition The term MSI is define ...

s with mentors to help with graduate school and fellowship applications. Duffy created Diversity EEB'','' a list of ecologists / evolutionary biologists who are women or from a group traditionally underrepresented in the sciences to help people identify scientists who might diversify seminar series or for award nominations. Duffy is one of the 2017/2018

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

Leshner Leadership Institute Public Engagement Fellows. She is interested in how scientists can engage with policy makers. She delivered the opening address at the 2017

March for Science The March for Science (formerly known as the Scientists' March on Washington) was an international series of rallies and marches held on Earth Day. The inaugural march was held on April 22, 2017, in Washington, D.C., and more than 600 other cit ...

. In 2017, Duffy ran a workshop for high school students on the University of Michigan Wolverine Pathways program, teaching students how to find and use open data to answer questions that they are interested in. She is one of three contributors to the science blog Dynamic Ecology. In October 2017, Duffy won the University of Michigan President's Award for Public Impact, for being "a leading national voice in promoting the crucial importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in the STEM disciplines". She won the 2010 George Mercer Award from the

Ecological Society of America The Ecological Society of America (ESA) is a professional organization of ecological scientists. Based in the United States and founded in 1915, ESA publications include peer-reviewed journals, newsletters, fact sheets, and teaching resources. I ...

, and the 2017 Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award from the

Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), formerly known as the Limnological Society of America and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography, is a scientific society established in 1936 with the goal of advan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Meghan Living people American women ecologists American evolutionary biologists American ecologists Michigan State University alumni Cornell University alumni American women evolutionary biologists University of Michigan faculty Georgia Tech faculty Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American biologists 21st-century American women scientists Women limnologists American limnologists American women academics Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers