Email
lmathews@wpi.edu
Office
Goddard Hall 311A
Phone
+1 (508) 8315000 x5938
Affiliated Department or Office
Environmental & Sustainability Studies
Education
BA Connecticut College 1996
PhD University of Louisiana, Lafayette 2001

Research in my laboratory addresses questions in the field of evolutionary ecology and environmental biology, and typically combines field work and laboratory studies. Current projects focus on two disciplines.

One of the major goals of my laboratory is to understand the geographic and evolutionary processes that affect and generate biological diversity, particularly in aquatic habitats. In North America, freshwater faunas are particularly vulnerable to ecological changes because of heavy manipulation of habitats by human activity. In addition, North America harbors a substantial majority of the world’s biodiversity in freshwater crayfish, many of which are considered to be species of conservation concern. Furthermore, biodiversity in this group is poorly understood, and species may be declining or even disappearing even before they have been fully documented. We are working to understand the ecological and evolutionary interactions among native and invasive species of crayfish in the northeastern United States, with the ultimate goal of predicting how these interactions will change future distributions and diversity in this group.

Another research goal is to understand how ecological and phylogenetic factors contribute to social evolution. In crayfish, females bear most of the costs of reproduction, and males compete with one another for status in a dominance hierarchy, but the role of sexual selection on the social evolution of these animals is not well understood. We use both field data and laboratory experiments, including genetic analysis of family relationships, to test hypotheses about social behavior in this taxon.

Professional Highlights & Honors
Louisiana Board of Regents Doctoral Fellow, 1996

Smithsonian Institution Graduate Student Fellowship, 1998

News

SEE MORE NEWS ABOUT Lauren Mathews
Hawaii Reporter
Local Hawai’i Organizations get a Boost

This article in Hawaii Reporter outlines many of the recent projects students completed on behalf of community-based nonprofits and government organizations through WPI's Hawaii Project Center. The students completed the work for their Interactive Qualifying Projects (IQP).