Adriana Briscoe, PhD is an evolutionary biologist and lepidopterist. She is a professor in UCI's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Briscoe is known for studies of how color vision mediates ecological interactions between butterflies, host plants, and the environment, in the context of mimicry and species recognition. Her discoveries have been featured on television and in museums both in the USA and in Europe. She has written and spoken about the importance of teachers in developing future scientists and the need for increased funding for Black, Indigenous people of color (BIPOC) teacher training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in order to create a more just and diverse scientific workforce. She is leading the sequencing of several California butterfly genomes for conservation purposes and is working on her first book, a memoir about butterflies. In this event, she will present a reading on the butterfly iconography of Mesoamerica from her book-in-progress.
Parking is free. Light hors d'oeuvres and refreshments will be provided.
The goals of Newkirk Faculty Fellowship are to: 1) provide a forum for cross-disciplinary interaction; 2) increase the visibility of UCI scholars and their activities within and outside the university; 3) build community around the strategic mission of the Newkirk Center for Science & Society.
