Hannah Weller

Research interests: Evolution, development, and ecology of color patterns; broadly, how traits interact to shape evolutionary trajectories; method and software development for accessible phenotyping approaches.

Present Position

2023—Present: Postdoctoral researcher, Integrative Evolutionary Biology Group
University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)

Education

2019—2023: PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Brown University (Providence, RI)
Thesis: The opportunities of evolutionary constraint, with a focus on the evolution of mouthbrooding in cichlids
2017—2019: Transitional M.Sc., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Brown University (Providence, RI)
Thesis: How do feeding adaptations influence the convergent evolution of mouthbrooding?
2012—2016: Honors B.Sc., Biology
University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)
Thesis: Winnowing in the eartheater cichlids

Awards and Fellowships

January 2022: Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Grant
$10,000, Bushnell Fund at Brown University
May 2021: Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award Brown University, Alpert Medical School
April 2019: Graduate Research Fellowship
$138,000, National Science Foundation
December 2018: Field Museum Visiting Scientist Scholarship
$1,500, Field Museum of Natural History
May 2017: Presidential Fellowship
$108,000, Brown University
June 2015: Jeff Metcalf Undergraduate Research Fellowship
$5,000, Marine Biological Laboratory
March 2015: Elected to Phi Beta Kappa Society
September 2014: Best Presentation, Undergraduate Research Symposium
$150, University of Chicago
June 2014: Elliott and Eileen Hinkes Research Fellowship
$4,000, University of Chicago

Peer-reviewed publications

Crowell, H.L.*, Curlis, J.D.*, Weller, H.I.*, Davis Rabosky, A.R.* (2024). Predators drive the evolution of ultraviolet colouration in snakes. Nature Communications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/.
^{*These authors contributed equally to this work.}

Weller, H.I., Hiller, A.E., Van Belleghem, S.M., and Lord, N.P. (2024). Recolorize: flexible color segmentation of biological images. Ecology Letters. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14378.
^{This article was featured on the cover of the journal:} Cover image of Ecology Letters (February 2024).

Paquette, S.E., Martin, N., Rodd, A., Manz, K.E., Camarillo, M., Allen, E., Weller, H.I, Pennell, K., and Plavicki, J (2023). Neural dysregulation and aberrant microglial responses to brain injury following perfluorooctane sulfonate exposure in larval zebrafish. Environmental Health Perspectives. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP1286.

Tumulty, J.P., Miller, S.E., Van Belleghem, S.M., Weller, H.I., Jernigan, C.M., Vincent, S., Staudenraus, R.J., Legan, A.W., Polnaszek, T.J., Uy, F.M.K, Walton, A., and Sheehan, M.J. (2023). Evidence for a selective link between cooperation and individual recognition. Current Biology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.11.032.

Weller, H.I., López-Fernández, H., McMahan, C.D., and Brainerd, E.L. (2022). Relaxed feeding constraints facilitate the evolution of mouthbrooding in Neotropical cichlids. The American Naturalist. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/719235.

Capano, J.G., Boback, S.M., Weller, H.I., Cieri, R.L., Zemer, C.F., and Brainerd, E.L. (2022). Modular lung ventilation in Boa constrictor. Journal of Experimental Biology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243119.

Weller, H.I., Olsen, A., Camp, A.L., Hernandez, L.P., Manafzadeh, A.R., and Brainerd, E.L. (2020). An XROMM study of intra-oral transport and swallowing in catfish. Integrative Organismal Biology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/iob/obaa018.

Cohen, K.E., Weller, H.I., Westneat, M.W., and Summers, A.P (2020). The Evolutionary Continuum of Functional Homodonty to Heterodonty in the Dentition of Halichoeres Wrasses. Integrative and Comparative Biology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaa137.

Weller, H.I.*, Hooper, S.E.*, and Amelon, S.K* (2020). Countcolors, an R package for quantification of the fluorescence emitted by Pseudogymnoascus destructans lesions on the wing membranes of hibernating bats. Journal of Wildlife Diseases. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7589/2019-09-231
^{*These authors contributed equally to this work.}

Cohen, K.E., Weller, H.I., and Summers, A.P. (2020). Not your father’s homodonty—stress, tooth shape, and the functional homodont. Journal of Anatomy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13248

van Meer, N.M., Weller, H.I., Manafzadeh, A.R., Kaczmarek, E.B., Scott, B., Gussekloo, S.W.S, Wilga, C.D., Camp, A.L., and Brainerd, E.L. (2019). Intra-oropharyngeal food transport and swallowing in white-spotted bamboo sharks. Journal of Experimental Biology. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.201426

Weller, H.I., and Westneat, M.W. (2019). Quantitative color profiling of digital images with earth mover’s distance using the R package colordistance. PeerJ. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.6398

Weller, H.I., McMahan, C.D., and Westneat, M.W. (2017). Dirt-sifting Devilfish: Winnowing in the geophagine cichlid Satanoperca daemon and evolutionary implications. Zoomorphology. DOI: 10.1007/s00435-016-0335-6

Software

Weller, H.I. (2021). recolorize: Simplify and Remap Image Colors for Biological Analysis (ver. 0.9.000). CRAN Repository. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=recolorize

O’Sullivan, D., Weller, H.I., and Lord, N.P. Insect Color Database (ICDB). In development. https://insectcolor.com/

Weller, H.I. (2019). colordistance: Distance Metrics for Image Color Similarity (ver. 1.1.0). CRAN repository. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=colordistance

Weller, H.I. (2018). countcolors: Locates and Counts Pixels Within Color Range(s) in Images (ver. 0.9.1). CRAN Repository. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=countcolors

Presentations

Weller, H.I., Van Belleghem, S. (April 2024). Talk: recolorize: An R package for flexible colour segmentation of biological images. Finnish Molecular Ecology Symposium, Joensuu, Finland.

Weller, H.I., Van Belleghem, S. (July 2023). Invited symposium talk: One way to measure color pattern variation in coral reef fishes. International Conference for Vertebrate Morphology, Cairns, Australia.

Weller, H.I., and Van Belleghem, S. (January 2023). Poster: Flexible color segmentation of biological images with the R package recolorize. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Austin, TX, USA.

Weller, H.I., Weissman, M., and López-Fernández, H. (January 2023). Talk: Bet-hedging theory helps explain life history differences among mouthbrooding cichlids. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Austin, TX, USA.

Weller, H.I. and López-Fernández, H. (September 2022). Invited symposium talk: How (and how much) does feeding influence the evolution of mouthbrooding in Neotropical cichlids? Encontra Brasileiro de Ictiologia, Gramado, Brazil.

Weller, H.I., Brainerd, E.L, and López-Fernández, H. (January 2022). Talk: Does feeding mediate life history tradeoffs in mouthbrooding cichlids? Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, virtual conference.

Weller, H.I., Wham, D., Ezray-Wham, B., and Lord, N.P. (August 2021). Talk: Greater than the sum of their parts? Unpacking the “black box” of perceptual similarity using classical color pattern metrics. Living Light Early Career Researchers, virtual conference.

Weller, H.I., Schwartz, S.T., Karan, E., and Lord, N.P. (Jan. 2021). Talk: Recolorize: a flexible R package for color classification. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, virtual conference.

Weller, H.I., López-Fernández, H., McMahan, C.D., and Brainerd, E.L. (Jan. 2020). Talk: The spandrels of Satan’s perches: evidence for the co-optation of feeding traits in the convergent evolution of mouthbrooding in Neotropical cichlids. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Austin, TX.

Weller, H.I., López-Fernández, H., McMahan, C.D., and Brainerd, E.L. (Oct. 2019). Talk: Does mouthbrooding constrain or complement feeding morphology? Regional Division of Vertebrate Morphology (Northeast), Newton, MA.

Weller, H.I., Olsen, A., Camp, A.L., Hernandez, L.P., Manafzadeh, A.R., and Brainerd, E.L. (Jan. 2019). Talk: 3D-Intra-oral Prey Trajectories Indicate Distinct Phases in how Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus, Siluriformes: Ictaluridae) Swallow Food. International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology, Prague, CZ.

Weller, H.I., Cohen, K.E., Gibb, A., and Brainerd, E.L. (Jan. 2019). Poster: Using tethers to measure food transport in a flatfish. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Tampa, FL.

Weller, H.I., Olsen, A., Camp, A.L., Hernandez, L.P., Manafzadeh, A.R., and Brainerd, E.L.(Jan. 2019). Talk: An XROMM study of intra-oral transport and swallowing in catfish. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, Tampa, FL.

Weller, H.I. and Brainerd, E.L. (Oct. 2017). Talk: How do fish swallow food? Regional Division of Vertebrate Morphology (Northeast), Lowell, MA.

Weller, H.I., McMahan, C.D., and Westneat, M.W. (July 2016). Poster: Dirt-sifting devilfish: winnowing in eartheater cichlids. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, New Orleans, LA.

Invited talks, lectures, & workshops

June 2022: Workshop: Statistics for Biologists
University of Washington, Friday Harbor Laboratories (Friday Harbor, WA)
R workshop focusing on practical statistical approaches to messy biological data. Instructors: Matthew Kolmann and Cassandra Donatelli.
May 2022: Podcast: Naturalist Selections
American Society of Naturalists
Podcast interview about 2022 American Naturalist paper on the co-evolution of feeding and mouthbrooding in cichlids.
July 2020: Workshop: Phylogenetic Comparative Methods in R
University of Washington, Friday Harbor Laboratories (Friday Harbor, WA)
R workshop focusing on phylogenetic and comparative methods. Instructors: Matthew Kolmann and Cassandra Donatelli.
July 2020: A field guide to statistics in organismal biology
University of Washington, Friday Harbor Laboratories (Friday Harbor, WA)
Guest lecture. Instructors: Matthew Kolmann and Cassandra Donatelli.
July 2020: Mouthbrooding morphologies in Neotropical cichlids
University of California Davis, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Davis, CA)
Virtual seminar. Host: Peter Wainwright.
April 2020: Special Topics: Light, Color, and Vision in Biology (BIOL 7901/ENTM 7008)
Louisiana State University, Dept. of Entomology and Dept. of Biology (Baton Rouge, LA)
Guest lecturer (3 classes). Instructors: Nathan Lord (ENTM) & Brant Faircloth (BIOL).
December 2019: Workshop: R for Biologists
Louisiana State University, Dept. of Entomology (Baton Rouge, LA)
Organizer. Day-long workshop on data analysis and visualization in R.

Research experience

2023—Present: Postdoctoral researcher; advisor: Claudius Kratochwil
University of Helsinki, HiLIFE Institute
Evolution and development of color pattern robustness in fishes.
2017—2023: PhD candidate, Brainerd Lab; advisor: Elizabeth Brainerd
Brown University, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Comparative morphology, kinematics, and biomechanics of mouthbrooding fishes; XROMM fish feeding and transport.
September 2013—July 2017: Research assistant; advisor: Mark Westneat
University of Chicago, Dept. of Organismal Biology & Anatomy
Quantitative color analysis; geometric morphometrics; high-speed video kinematics.
June 2015—September 2015: Jeff Metcalf Summer Research Fellow; advisor: Roger Hanlon
Brown University, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
Hyperspectral imaging; image analysis pipelines; camouflage analyses.
June 2014—September 2014: Summer Research Fellow, Westneat Lab; advisor: Mark Westneat
University of Chicago, Dept. of Organismal Biology & Anatomy
Ontogenetic scaling; biomechanical modeling; geometric morphometrics.

Teaching, service, and outreach

September 2023—Present: Postdoctoral representative, University of Helsinki, Wellbeing Committee (Helsinki, Finland)
Organizing events and awareness campaigns around wellbeing resources (e.g. mental health, mentorship, exercise) for Helsinki Institute of Life Sciences research community.
September 2023—June 2024: Local organizer, Meeting of the European Society of Evolutionary and Developmental Biology, 2024 (Helsinki, Finland)
Organized outreach events and coordinated conference activities.
June 2021 & July 2022: Instructor, Brown University, Summer@Brown Program (Providence, RI)
Anatomy, Behavior, and Evolution: Fishy Solutions to Life Underwater
Intensive high school course including labs, assignments, and mentoring of final project. Responsible for proposal, design, and implementation of entire course.
August 2020—April 2021: Teaching assistant, Brown University, Alpert Medical School (Providence, RI)
COVID-modified Human Anatomy (lecture and lab)
Restructuring the traditional gross anatomy curriculum, including remote/small group work and prosection-based staggered labs.
September 2019—2023: R User Group, Brown University, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (Providence, RI)
Organizing and running monthly R workshops for graduate and undergraduate students, focusing on techniques for biological analysis (e.g., data organization, statistics, and visualization).
August 2019—April 2020: Teaching assistant, Brown University, Alpert Medical School (Providence, RI)
Human Anatomy (lecture and lab)
Guiding medical students through cadaver-based human anatomy labs.
September 2018—June 2022: Marine Science Club, Paul Cuffee High School (Providence, RI)
Collaborating with high school teachers for weekly science activities with high school students.
September 2017—Dec. 2017: Teaching assistant, Brown University, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (Providence, RI)
Diversity of Life (lecture)
January 2015—April 2017: Teaching assistant, University of Chicago, Dept. of Biological Sciences (Chicago, IL)
Presenting and supervising lab experiments; writing and grading assignments; lecturing; leading paper discussions and review sessions; guiding dissection-based anatomy labs.
Genetic and Developmental Biology (lab & lecture)
Multiscale Modeling of Biological Systems (lecture)
Molecular Biology of the Cell (lab)
Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (lab & lecture)
June 2013—September 2013: Animal care intern, New England Aquarium (Boston, MA)
Daily animal care and maintenance; visitor outreach; collection trips.

Skills

Coding: R, Python (OpenCV, Scrapy, & BioPython libraries), MATLAB, UNIX, MEL
Software: Latex, Maya, FIJI/ImageJ, Horos, 3DSlicer, XMALab, Mesquite, Pandoc, Microsoft Office
Languages: English (native), French (intermediate), Finnish (basic)

Lab: Viikinkaari 5, 00790 Helsinki, Finland
Email: hannahiweller@gmail.com
Website: hiweller.rbind.io