Shaun M. Davis

Postdoctoral Associate
Department of Entomology
Shaun M. Davis

Dr. Davis is a neurogeneticist interested in how organisms alter their behaviors to enhance survival when challenged with biotic threats. He uses the vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster, to investigate the genes and neurons regulating the fly’s detection and behavioral responses to parasitoid wasps and predatory ants. While adults are highly mobile and can evade capture, their immobile offspring have no such defenses. Adult female flies will protect their offspring from death by altering their oviposition strategies – reduce egg laying when exposed to wasps and pushing their eggs deeper into the substrate when exposed to ants. These responses are reliant on visual and olfactory cues from the threat, and he is currently investigating where these two sensory systems may meet in the brain to regulate oviposition behaviors. 

As part of his goal to teach as a faculty member in a small, primarily undergraduate institution, Dr. Davis is interested in developing his knowledge of teaching undergraduates using effective, evidence-based teaching pedagogy. He hopes to train his future students to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying evolutionarily shaped behaviors, both in his lab as well as in the classroom. He is especially interested in designing Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) centered around students performing novel research in the classroom environment. The topics of these CUREs can cover genetics, neuroscience, and animal behaviors. He is also interested in teaching an upper-level seminar class on life in space, examining the challenges and engineering solutions to transition from terrestrial life to interplanetary space.