About me...I am currently a fourth year doctoral candidate in Dr. James Albert's lab at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. My dissertation research is focused on convergent evolution of craniofacial morphologies in electric fishes from South America and Africa. My main areas of interest include the macroevolution of functional morphology and feeding biomechanics. Using multiple techniques, I plan to investigate skull shape and function in these two groups. Further, I can identify if novel evolutionary traits associated with feeding are present in these species of fish.
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Groups of InterestMy main organisms of interest include:
Allometric series of Syngnathidae, showing size differences between mature (left) and juvenile (right) individuals
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Gymnotiformes (left) alongside Mormyridae (right) to visualize similarities in external facial morphologies.
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CT-Scans of the skulls of six species from Apteronotidae.
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CT-Scans of the skulls of six species from Mormyridae.
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Publications
KM Evans, MJ Bernt, MA Kolmann, KL Ford, JS Albert (2018). Why the long face? Static allometry in the sexually dimorphic phenotypes of Neotropical electric fishes. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.
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Interviews
Into the Wild: The Podcast
"Electric Fish with Kassandra Ford"
July 2020 
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Drunk Safari Podcast
"It's A Whole Mess"
Sept 2019 
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