Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Melissa Hawkins

Curator of Mammals
Department / Division
Education
  • Ph.D., George Mason University
  • M.S., Western Illinois University
  • B.Sc., Western Illinois University
Research Interests

My research interest most frequently incorporates museum specimens to study of phylogeny, taxonomy, evolution and biogeography. I am most interested in diverse lineages of mammals, particularly adaptive radiations and have done biological surveys in Southeast Asia, Madagascar and the United States. I use cutting edge molecular techniques to generate large datasets from degraded DNA sources (over 100 year old museum specimens). I am also proficient in bioinformatics, and a novice with GIS.

Publications
Journal Article
Dataset