Hi, I'm Connor!
I am a fourth-year mathematics Ph.D. candidate and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of Utah. I am advised by Fred Adler.
I study stochastic models in developmental biology. All multicellular organisms must reliably form and maintain specialized tissues despite biological noise across many scales. Gene expression dynamics fluctuate, DNA mutations alter cell behavior, and cell populations are subject to genetic drift. I want to understand not only how stochasticity shapes developmental and evolutionary processes, but also how organisms have evolved mechanisms that exploit randomness to improve their function. I currently work on a diverse set of biological problems, including male fertility in zebrafish (with Jamie Gagnon) and fetal immunology in mice (with Anna Beaudin).
A preprint of my most recent work is available on bioRxiv: Clonal dynamics deviate from neutral drift in zebrafish spermatogenesis.