Student Involvement

About Student Membership | About GSAC | Current GSAC | Student Awards

About Student Membership

Students enjoy a reduced rate for SSE membership. Join today!

Advisors can also purchase a 1-year gift membership for their students for just $10. Purchase gift membership.

About the Graduate Student Advisory Committee

The SSE Graduate Student Advisory Committee (GSAC) represents student and postdoc interests to the SSE Council and facilitates interaction among students and postdocs and between students, postdocs, and mentors. Our goal is to become a source of information for students to use both during their graduate school career and as they make career transitions.

The primary role of all GSAC members is to communicate with the SSE's graduate student and postdoc membership and liaise with the SSE Council on their behalf. One GSAC member per cohort will be chosen to attend Council meetings. GSAC organizes multiple networking and professional development events for the summer Evolution meeting. Secondary roles include maintaining social media accounts to facilitate networking among SSE student members, assisting in the review of Lewontin GREG Award applications, and assisting with initiatives led by other SSE committees. Other roles are continuing to be established, and ideas are welcome! Students will serve either a 2 or 3 year term and generally spend 5-10 hours per month on GSAC activities. Please see the GSAC structural document in the Officers Handbook for more details about requirements and current roles.

Follow GSAC (@SSEgrad) on X/Twitter and Bluesky!

Contact the GSAC Chair at gsac [at] evolutionsociety [dot] org.

Current Members

	Shirley Zhang Member 2024-2026, Chair 2025 I am a PhD candidate at Cornell University in the Phytophagy Lab.
	Haosu (Susu) Cong Member 2023-2025, Chair 2024 I am a PhD candidate in Michigan State University, where I study the evolution of sexual dimorphic mating signals in Drosophila species.
	María Tocora Member 2024-2025 I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, where I study the evolution and ecology of cooperation between host-microbe and plant-animal species.
	Rujuta Vaidya Member 2024-2025 I am a PhD candidate at Louisiana State University, where I study genetic basis of thermal adaptation in marine invertebrates.
	Prothama (Pro) Manna Member 2025-2027, Chair 2026 I am a PhD candidate at Ohio University studying invasive species colonization histories, using demographic simulations, and bioinformatic tools to uncover the ecological and evolutionary drivers of their success.
	Gbolahan Anthony Reis Member 2025-2026 I am a PhD student at Utah State University, studying the ecological and evolutionary responses of species to climate change.
	Mete Yuksel Member 2025-2026 I am a PhD student in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. I use mathematical models to study patterns, causes, and consequences of recombination rate variation.

Student Awards

Graduate Research Excellence Grants
W.D. Hamilton Award
SSE Presidents' Award for Outstanding Dissertation Paper
Outreach grants
Graduate/Postdoc Travel Awards
International Committee Travel Awards

Past GSAC Members

	Robert Driver Member 2022-2024, Chair 2023		Jill Love Member 2023-2024
	Henry Arenas-Castro Member 2021-2023, Chair 2022		Léonard Dekens Member 2022-2023
	Cathy Hernandez Member 2022-2023		Elizabeth Carlen Member 2020-2022, Chair 2021
	Emily Laub Member 2021-2022		Sally Chang Member 2019-2021, Chair 2020
	Catherine Chen Member 2020-2021		Erin Giglio Member 2020-2021
	Liz Lange Member 2018-2020, Chair 2019		Andis Arietta Member 2019-2020
	Jodie Wiggins Member 2017-2019, Chair 2018		José Cerca Member 2018-2019
	Melissa Plakke Member 2018-2019		Megan Kobiela Member 2016-2018, Chair 2017
	Daren Card Member 2017-2018		Cathy Rushworth Member 2013-2017, Chair 2013-2016
	Melissa E. Kemp Member 2016-2017		Aide Macias Muñoz Member 2016-2017
	Karl Grieshop Member 2014-2016

Tweets by SSEgrad