Chris Talbot

Chris Talbot

Studying human influenceon evolution

Hey, I'm Chris. I'm a PhD student in Computational Biology at Cornell University, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. My interests center around how living things respond to human actions—land-use change, climate change, harvesting, and so on. I aim to use evolutionary ecology to develop methods and tools for conservation and management of biodiversity under global change, guided by rigorous statistical and computational frameworks. My approaches primarily involve probabilistic modeling, simulations, community science, and spatiotemporal data. I'm also passionate about making science clear and accessible. I'm currently the graduate coordinator for the McNair Scholars at Cornell, where I mentor undergraduates on the hidden curriculum of academia.

Read my blog
GitHub LinkedIn cat267[at]cornell[dot]edu

Background

Education

Ph.D. 2025-Present
Computational Biology
Cornell University
Advisor: Philipp Messer
B.S. 2024
Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity
University of Michigan
Highest Honors
Thesis: Patterns of floral color in communities of common Northeast American wildflowers
A.G.S. 2020
General Studies (Computer Science & Mathematics)
Grand Rapids Community College

Research Experience

Doctoral Researcher 2025-Present
Messer Lab
Cornell University
Research Programmer 2024-2025
Bradburd Lab
University of Michigan
Testing, documenting, and visualizing novel geographic evolutionary inference methods
Lab Technician 2022-2025
Weber Lab
University of Michigan
Patterns of floral color in communities of common Northeast American wildflowers
Undergraduate Researcher 2021-2022
Márquez Lab
University of Michigan
Optimizing CRISPR-Cas9 genetic modification in Phyllobates poison-dart frogs

Publications

Published

In Review

In Preparation

  • 2026
    Talbot, C. A., Bradburd, G. S. Optimizing temporal sampling strategies for spatial population genetic inference using ancestral recombination graphs. Genetics.
  • 2026
    Talbot, C. A., Kern, A. D. slim-vscode-tools: A comprehensive language server and development environment for SLiM forward-time simulations. Bioinformatics.

Portfolio

As Lead Developer

ARGscape screenshot

ARGscape

Ancestral Recombination Graph Visualization

Explore ancestry through space, time, and the genome. A web-based tool for visualizing complex genetic ancestry patterns in population genetics.

Anstett Lab Website screenshot

Anstett Lab Website

The Anstett Lab - Evolutionary Ecology of Change

The lab website for the Anstett Lab at Cornell University.

Messer Lab Website screenshot

Messer Lab Website

Coming Soon

The renovated lab website for the Messer Lab at Cornell University.

As Contributor

CV

Status
Ph.D. Student in Computational Biology at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Fields
Population Genetics, Computational Biology, Evolutionary Ecology
Interests
Global change, rapid evolution, stochastic modeling, conservation
Techs
C, C++, Python, TypeScript, CUDA, Cerebras, SLiM
Email
cat267[at]cornell[dot]edu
Download PDF Updated August 2026
  • Ph.D. Computational Biology 2025-Present
    Cornell University
    • Advisor: Dr. Philipp Messer
    • Coursework: High-performance and parallel computing, population genetics
  • B.S. Ecology, Evolution, and Biodiversity 2024
    University of Michigan (UMich) GPA 3.74
    • Graduated with Highest Honors under the supervision of Dr. Marjorie Weber
    • Honors Thesis: Patterns of floral color in communities of common Northeast American wildflowers
    • Math & CS Coursework: Statistics & probability, programming & data structures, real analysis, discrete math
    • Biology Coursework: genetics, macroevolution, woody plants, ethnobotany, field ecology
  • Associate of General Studies 2020
    Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC) GPA 3.9
    • Computer Science & Mathematics Concentration
    • Coursework: C++ programming, database development, web application programming, information security
    • Invited member of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society
  • Doctoral Researcher - Messer Lab 2025-Present
    Cornell University - Computational Biology
  • Research Programmer - Bradburd Lab 2024-2025
    UMich - Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB)
  • Undergraduate Researcher, Lab Technician - Weber Lab 2022-2025
    UMich - EEB
  • Undergraduate Researcher - Márquez Lab 2021-2022
    UMich - EEB

Published

Pre-prints / In Review

In Preparation

  • 2026 Talbot, C. A., Bradburd, G. S. Optimizing temporal sampling strategies for spatial population genetic inference using ancestral recombination graphs. In Preparation for Genetics.
  • 2026 Talbot, C. A., Kern, A. D. slim-vscode-tools: A comprehensive language server and development environment for SLiM forward-time simulations. In Preparation for Bioinformatics.

Total: $174,180

  • Graduate Research Fellowship 2025-2030
    National Science Foundation $159,000
  • Graduate School Dean's Scholar Fellowship 2025
    Cornell University $2,000
  • Chancellor's Fellowship Offered 2025
    University of California-Berkeley (Declined)
  • Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship Offered 2025
    University of California-Davis (Declined)
  • Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship Offered 2025
    University of California-Santa Cruz (Declined)
  • Biological Station Student Fellowship 2023
    UMich Biological Station $1,680
  • Student Research Grant 2022-2023
    UMich UROP $5,000
  • Travel Grant 2022
    SACNAS $2,500
  • Biomedical & Life Sciences Summer Fellowship 2022
    UMich UROP $4,000
  • ARGEvol Conference 2025
    Porto, Portugal
  • ARGEvol Spatial ARG Workshop 2025
    Porto, Portugal (Workshop Contributor)
  • tskit-dev Seminar 2025
    Virtual
  • Third Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology 2024
    Montreal, QC
  • Botany 2024 2024
    Grand Rapids, MI (Lightning Talk)
  • UMich Ecology & Evolutionary Biology 2024
    Ann Arbor, MI (Honors Thesis Defense)
  • Open-Source Contributor - "SLiM" 2025-Present

    Contribute to maintenance of software for simulating genetics, evolution, and ecology

  • Open-Source Lead - "ARGscape" 2025-Present

    Design and maintain software for simulating, analyzing, and visualizing genomic data

  • Open-Source Lead - "slim-vscode-tools" 2025-Present

    Design and maintain software for streamlining SLiM programming through a language server and IDE extension