Hello!

My name is Kaleda, and I am an evolutionary biologist from Vancouver, Canada. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University in the lab of Marc Feldman. In July, I will be moving to New Mexico to begin as an Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. My primary research goal is to explore the role of non-genetic processes in major evolutionary events. Traditionally, many evolutionary theorists have asked "why did X evolve; what advantages did it provide to organisms in their current environment?" I aim to recast the question to "how did X arise and proliferate even if X was not advantageous?" For example, what developmental, epigenetic, or cultural processes were involved? I am particularly interested in the evolution of social behaviors such as cooperation, cheating, and punishment within different complex systems, including cells, multicellular organisms, eusocial groups, and human societies.

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