Rate My Professor Kevin Emerson

Kevin J. Emerson is Professor of Biology at St. Mary's College of Maryland, located in the Biology Department at Schaefer Hall 216. His academic background includes dual B.S. degrees in Biology and Mathematics from Clarkson University in 2002, and a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Genetics from the University of Oregon in 2009. Emerson joined the St. Mary's College faculty in 2012, advancing from Assistant to Associate Professor and now full Professor. He has served as Chair of the Biology Department and currently teaches courses in genetics, biology, biostatistics, and genomics. In 2018, the College's Board of Trustees recognized him for his teaching and research contributions. Emerson also mentors undergraduate students through initiatives such as the St. Mary's Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) and Flores Research Grants, and has participated in the COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Group while serving as faculty liaison to the Board of Trustees.

Research in the Emerson Lab examines how environmental cues interact with the genome to regulate developmental and physiological processes, and how evolutionary changes in these interactions facilitate organismal adaptation across temperate zone environments. Specializing in evolutionary genetics, genomics, and computational biology, Emerson integrates modern molecular methods with physiological, evolutionary, and ecological perspectives, frequently focusing on insects like mosquitoes and ticks. His key publications include 'Minimal genetic differentiation of the malaria vector Nyssorhynchus darlingi associated with forest cover level in Amazonian Brazil' (PLoS ONE, 2019, co-authored with C. Prussing and others), 'Evidence for family-level variation of phenotypic traits in response to larval food quality in the mosquito Aedes albopictus' (Parasites & Vectors, 2020, co-authored with V.M. Chu and others), 'Cytonuclear Epistasis Controls the Density of Symbiont Wolbachia in Nasonia vitripennis' (G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, 2017, with R.L. Glaser), 'Brazilian Anopheles darlingi Root (Diptera: Culicidae) Populations: Genetic Structure, Population Relationships, and Population History' (PLoS ONE, 2015, co-authored with J.E. Conn and others), and 'StrAuto: automation and parallelization of STRUCTURE analysis' (PeerJ, 2017). These works advance knowledge of genetic diversity, phylogeography, and evolutionary processes in disease vectors, contributing to fields like vector biology and ecological genetics.