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Tom Duda is a Professor and Curator of Molluscs in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University Galveston in 1988 and earned a Master of Arts from San Francisco State University in 1992. Duda began his PhD studies at the University of Hawaii from 1993 and ultimately completed his PhD at Harvard University in 1999. He has held prestigious positions including Tupper Fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Washington. His research aims to decipher the evolutionary history, origins, and adaptations of molluscs, focusing primarily on the gastropod family Conidae. Duda's work integrates ecological information, morphology, molecular evolutionary genetics, and phylogenetics to explore the evolution and diversity of life history traits and feeding modes in cone snails. He also investigates the molecular evolution of conotoxin genes, which encode neurotoxins that cone snails use to subdue their prey. In addition to evolutionary biology, Duda teaches courses like BIO 288, addressing concepts of animal diversity.
University of Michigan • Ann Arbor, MI
Curator of Molluscs and faculty member in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, focusing on research and teaching.
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science