Monica Mowery
She/Her
I am queer and I am an evolutionary biologist and ecologist.//
I’m a Zuckerman STEM postdoctoral fellow at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where I study population genetics and ecological interactions in invasive widow spiders. My research focuses on what makes invasive species successful, through ecological, evolutionary, and behavioural lenses. I grew up as an animal-loving kid in Washington DC, then went to college at Tufts University in Boston, where I discovered the joys of animal behaviour research and queer community. After doing my PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto, I came to Israel to study spiders in the Negev Desert, where I live with my partner. As a queer scientist and educator, I try to be visible and to build queer community wherever I am. In both my science and outreach work, I aim to increase opportunities in STEM for everyone.