Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS

GRANTS AND AWARDS

External Research Funding

• National Science Foundation. CAREER: The genomics of urbanization in house mice. PI: Megan Phifer-Rixey. Fall 2021-Fall 2026.
• Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), NSF. Co-PI with Dr. Michael Nachman. Environmental adaptation in house mice. 2013-2022. This mechanism is a competitive computational resource research grant.
• Achelis & Bodman Foundation. Investigating environmental DNA (eDNA) as a tool for biological monitoring of the lower Hudson-Raritan River Estuary. Fall 2019-present. PIs: Jason Adolf, Megan Phifer-Rixey, and Keith Dunton.
• National Science Foundation. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2007-2009.

Internal Research Funding

• Monmouth University. Creativity and Research Grant. Rapid adaptation and range expansion in house mice. Spring 2020.
• Monmouth University, Urban Coast Institute. Faculty Fellowship. Closing the gap: genetic tools for our changing oceans. Summer stipend, course releases (4), and research funds. Fall 2019–Summer 2021.
• Monmouth University. Summer Faculty Fellowship. Summer 2019. This fellowship provides a summer stipend to support faculty pursuing research. 
• Monmouth University, Urban Coast Institute. Faculty Enrichment Grant: Using population genetics to inform management of New Jersey fisheries. Spring 2018-present. 
  

Other Funding and Awards

• Monmouth University, Office of the Provost and the Intercultural Center. Diversity Innovation Grant: Genetics, Genomics, and Racism. Spring 2021. With Dr. Jennifer McGovern and student coordinator, Cameron Gaines.
• European Society for Evolutionary Biology Outreach Grant. DNA Unraveled: Strawberry DNA Extraction. Fall 2017.
• Genetics Society of America, TAGC Travel Grant, 2016; DeLill Nasser Award, 2012
• Summer Institute for Statistical Genetics Scholarship, 2009
• American Genetic Association, Travel Grant, 2009
• Marie Curie ITN, Travel Grant, Theory of Speciation Workshop, 2009
• University of Pennsylvania, Dissertation Completion Fellowship, Fall 2008-Spring 2009
• Malacological Society of London, Travel Grant, International Society of Littorinid Biology and Evolution, 2008
• University of Pennsylvania, Dean’s Awards for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students, 2007
• University of Pennsylvania, Binns-Williams Fund for Research, 2005, 2006
  

PUBLICATIONS

Dumont, B., .Phifer-Rixey, M.,…and M. W. Nachman. 2024. Into the wild: A novel wild-derived strain resource expands the genotypic and phenotypic diversity of laboratory mouse models.. PLOS Genetics. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1011228

Gutierrez-Guerrero, Y, Phifer-Rixey, M., and M.W. Nachman. 2023. Across two continents: the genomic basis of environmental adaptation in house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) from the Americas. BioRxiv. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.30.564674v1.article-info

Xuereb, A. Rougemont, Q., Tiffin, P., Xue, H., and M. Phifer-Rixey. 2021. Individual-based eco-evolutionary models for understanding adaptation in changing seas. Proc. Royal Soc. B. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2021.2006

Kathleen G. Ferris , Andreas S. Chavez, Taichi A. Suzuki, Elizabeth J. Beckman, Megan Phifer-Rixey, Ke Bi, Michael W. Nachman. 2021. The genomics of rapid climatic adaptation and parallel evolution in North American house mice. PLOS Genetics. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1009495

Phifer-Rixey, M, Harr, B, and J Hey. 2020. Further resolution of the house mouse (Mus musculus) phylogeny by integration over isolation-with-migration histories. BMC Evolutionary Biology. https://bmcevolbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-020-01666-9

Suzuki TA, Martins FM, Phifer-Rixey M, and MW Nachman. 2020. The gut microbiota and Bergmann’s rule in wild house mice. Molecular Ecology. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.15476

Suzuki, T.A., Phifer-Rixey, M., Mack, K.L., Sheehan, M.J., Lin, T., Bi, K., and M.W. Nachman. 2019 .Host genetic determinants of the gut microbiome of wild mice. Molecular Ecology. 00: 1– 11.

Mack, K.L. Phifer-Rixey, M., Harr, B., and M. W. Nachman. 2019 . Gene expression networks across multiple tissues are associated with rates of molecular evolution in wild house mice. Genes. 10(3):225.

Mack, K.L., Ballinger, M.A., Phifer-Rixey, M., and M.W. Nachman. 2018. Gene regulation underlies environmental adaptation in house mice. Genome Research. https://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2018/10/10/gr.238998.118

Phifer-Rixey, M., Bi, K., Ferris, K.G., Sheehan, M.J., Lin, D., Mack, K.L., Keeble, S.M., Suzuki, T., Good, J.M., and M.W. Nachman. 2018. The genomic basis of environmental adaptation in house mice. PLoS Genetics. https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/authors?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007672

Moeller, A. H., T. A. Suzuki, M. Phifer-Rixey, and M. W. Nachman. 2018. Transmission modes of the mammalian gut microbiota. Science. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/362/6413/453

Weyand, N., Ma, I., Phifer-Rixey, M., et al. 2016. Isolation of a new species of Neisseria from the wild house mouse, Mus musculus. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. http://ijs.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijsem.0.001237#tab2

Phifer-Rixey, M. and M. W. Nachman. 2015. The natural history of model organisms: Insight into mammalian biology from the wild house mouse, Mus musculus. eLife. http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05959.001

Phifer-Rixey, M., Bomhoff, M., and M.W. Nachman. 2014. Genome-wide patterns of differentiation among house mouse subspecies. Genetics. http://www.genetics.org/content/198/1/283

Phifer-Rixey, M. 2014. Evolution: Searching for the genes that separate species (invited commentary). eLife. http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05377

PRESENTATIONS

(more available upon request)

Gene-by-environment interactions, gene expression, and body size in house mice from the Americas (poster).. . EMBO: Evolution of Animal Genomes, Seville, Spain. September 2023.

Megan Phifer-Rixey. Gene-by-environment interactions, gene expression, and body size in house mice from the Americas (oral).. Society for the Study of Evolution, Albuquerque, NM, USA. June 2023.

Phifer-Rixey, M., et al. House Mice and Changing Environments (invited). Ohio University, Virtual. February 2023.

Phifer-Rixey, M., et al. Diet induced plasticity in body size among wild derived house mice from the Americas (poster). Population, Evolutionary, and Quantitative Genetics, Genetics Society of America, Asilomar, CA. June 2022.

Megan Phifer-Rixey. Evolutionary Genetics in House Mice (invited). Fordham University, Virtual. February 2022.

Phifer-Rixey, M. Evolutionary genetics in wild house mice (invited). Systems Neuroecology Seminar Series, virtual. October 2021.

Phifer-Rixey, M. Environmental adaptation in house mice (oral, invited). University of Georgia, Genetics, Athens, Georgia. January 2020.

Phifer-Rixey, M. Genetics in the Wild (oral, invited). The National Association of Biology Teachers, Chicago, IL. November 2019.

Phifer-Rixey, M . The genomics of environmental adaptation in house mice (oral). Evolution Meeting, Providence, RI. June 2019.

Phifer-Rixey, M . Environmental adaptation in house mice (oral, invited). William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA. November 2018.

PEER REVIEW

Manuscript Review (2016-present): American Naturalist (2021), Biology Letters (2018), Evolutionary Applications (2019, 2020, 2023), Ecology and Evolution (2022); G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics (2020), Genetics (2018, 2019), Genome Biology and Evolution (2019,2020), Heredity (2018, 2019, 2020), ISMEJ (2023), Molecular Ecology (2018, 2019, 2022), Nature Communications (2020), Nature Ecology and Evolution (2022), Oecologia (2019), PLoS Biology (2023), PLoS Genetics (2017), PLoS One (2017), Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2021), Royal Society Open Science (2021), Science Advances (2019), Scientific Data (2016), and Scientific Reports (2016, 2017).

Proposal Review: National Science Foundation (ad hoc/other: 2016, 2019, 2021; 2023; panel 2021, 2022), Czech Science Foundation (ad hoc, 2018, 2019, 2020); German Research Foundation (2022); French National Research Agency (2022).

MEMBERSHIPS

Society for the Study of Evolution, Genetics Society of America, Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution, European Society of Evolutionary Biology