Mingzi Xu, PI
Mingzi is an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in the evolution of animal behavior. She is particularly interested in the evolution, genetics, and genomics of sexual communication systems as well as environmental and human impact on mate choice and sexual selection in natural populations. She integrates field-based behavioral and lab-based genomic approaches in answering fundamental questions about the evolution of acoustic communication using crickets as a model system.
Mingzi received her B.Sc. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. To pursue a career in animal behavior, she moved to the US to attend graduate school. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program in the Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma with Dr. Ola Fincke, where she did her dissertation research on sexual signaling in odonates. During her Ph.D., she has also been a Pre-doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, where she conducted research on sexual signaling of the Neotropical giant damselfly on Barro Colorado Island, Panama for two years. Upon finishing her Ph.D., she joined Dr. Kerry Shaw's lab as a postdoc in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where she studied the genetic basis underlying signal-preference coevolution in the Laupala crickets of Hawaii.
Mingzi joined the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at University of Minnesota as a President's Postdoctoral Fellow in 2019 and has been promoted to assistant professor in the same department in 2022.
In her free time, Mingzi enjoys making dances about animal behaviors, playing the piano, hiking in the national parks, cooking, and trying to out-smart her way-too-smart cat Mocha Chuan'en Xu.
Mingzi received her B.Sc. from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. To pursue a career in animal behavior, she moved to the US to attend graduate school. She obtained her Ph.D. from the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Program in the Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma with Dr. Ola Fincke, where she did her dissertation research on sexual signaling in odonates. During her Ph.D., she has also been a Pre-doctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, where she conducted research on sexual signaling of the Neotropical giant damselfly on Barro Colorado Island, Panama for two years. Upon finishing her Ph.D., she joined Dr. Kerry Shaw's lab as a postdoc in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where she studied the genetic basis underlying signal-preference coevolution in the Laupala crickets of Hawaii.
Mingzi joined the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at University of Minnesota as a President's Postdoctoral Fellow in 2019 and has been promoted to assistant professor in the same department in 2022.
In her free time, Mingzi enjoys making dances about animal behaviors, playing the piano, hiking in the national parks, cooking, and trying to out-smart her way-too-smart cat Mocha Chuan'en Xu.
Graduate Students
Jose Vasquez, Ph.D. student
Jose is a second year PhD student hailing from Houston, TX. He is interested in the evolution of mating preference and choice, as well as the evolution of morphological scaling relationships.
Swastik Padhy, Ph.D. student
Swastik is from New Delhi, India. He is a first-year Ph.D. student at the U of M. Swastik did his Bachelor’s in Zoology and Master’s in Environment Sciences both from the University of Delhi, India. He worked on Katydids for his Master’s thesis. During his bachelor’s and master’s, he interned at several places in his home country where he worked on anuran communication systems. After graduation he worked as a research associate at the Wildlife Institute of India and studied the herpetofauna of the state of Jharkhand, India.
Swastik identifies himself as a behaviorist and is interested in answering questions related to evolution of communication systems and how it is shaped by behavior and environmental conditions. He is a new cricket in the lab and learning to flutter his wings.
When not on his laptop, Swastik enjoys birding, biking, hiking and clicking pictures of non-human subjects. Email. CV.
Swastik identifies himself as a behaviorist and is interested in answering questions related to evolution of communication systems and how it is shaped by behavior and environmental conditions. He is a new cricket in the lab and learning to flutter his wings.
When not on his laptop, Swastik enjoys birding, biking, hiking and clicking pictures of non-human subjects. Email. CV.
Undergraduate Students
Emily Westersund
Emily is a junior student interested in evolutionary biology and a recipient of Dean's Research Program in 2023. She is participating in research related to choosiness evolution.
Tyler Swiatkowski
Tyler is a junior student majoring in neurobiology. Interested in neuroethology and evolution, Tyler takes on neuroanatomy, imaging, and neurogenomics in the lab.
Staff
Susan Balenger, Lab Manager
Susan is a behavioral ecologist and evolutionary biologist. Find out more about her research on her website here. Check her out on Google Scholar here. And peruse her CV here.
Collaborators
Norman Lee, St Olaf College
Find out more about research in the Lee lab here.
|