Karen Cranston

I am a computational evolutionary biologist, currently at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent, http://nescent.org). After starting out in genetics, I quickly realized that I much preferred writing code to lab work and subsequently did graduate work in Bayesian methods for phylogenetic reconstruction. In my current position at NESCent, I collaborate with researchers to develop informatics databases and tools for evolutionary analysis. All NESCent data is open access and our software is open source. I am a strong advocate for free access to the results of scientific research, and our choice of name for the Open Tree of Life project reflects those goals.

My business cards (if I had such a thing) would also include Horseback Rider, Brewer, House Renovator, Backpacker and Chicken Keeper.

Email: karen.cranston@nescent.org

Twitter: kcranstn