Principal Investigator
Justin Touchon
Associate Professor
Biology Department
Prof. Touchon with an adorable leaf litter toad (Rhinella alata) wrapped around his finger. Toads will try to mate with anything!
I am an Associate Professor of Biology at Vassar College. I started here in 2014. Previously, I was a postdoc at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama for 5 years and a graduate student at Boston University for 7 years (although most of that time was spent in Panama doing research). I love amphibians, plain and simple.
Current students
Current (2023–2024) students are Luca Reeder ’24, Kirby Shealy ’24, Maxwell Sivers-Boyce ’25, Niah Dang ’25, Aidan Duffy ’25, Ava Sclafani ’25, Eve Anderson ’25, Jack Matter ’25, and Danny Wunschel ’26. Whew, that’s a lot of students! We better get a photo of everyone.
Former students
Marina Alfano and Kali vom Eigen graduated in 2023. Marina is working as an intern at NASA and Kali is working as a research assistant at Mass General Brigham hospital in Boston.
Marina (L) and Kali (R). Two more amazing seniors! Marina studied the effects of vitamin A on growth and bone ossification in pantless treefrog juveniles and Kali examined how quickly tadpoles exposed to predator cues could alter gene expression.
Tori Armitage, Sedona Ryan, Katherine Nelson, Madeleine Stewart and Cristy Cai all graduated in 2022. Tori is applying to graduate school and Sedona is doing her Masters at UNC Chapel Hill.
So many seniors! Madeleine (far L) and Cristy (mid L) studied the interaction between water mold, snails and wood frog eggs. Sedona (center) examined gene expression in 4-day old tadpoles exposed to predators, and Katherine (mid R) and Tori (far R) studied gene expression in 14 and 17 day old tadpoles exposed to predators. Great job everyone!
Sadly there are no photos of my wonderful seniors from 2020 and 2021. Stupid COVID. Great job Dean Rosenthal, Ben Gregory, Theresa Waters, Parker Bartz, Sonia Gollerkeri, Asher Albrecht, and Claire Stutzman! You all were amazing.
Megan Coughlan and Nick Zuczek graduated in 2019. Megan has been working in Madison, WI and is prepping for medical school. Nick is getting his Masters in Pharmacology at Georgetown University.
Megan (L) and Nick (R). Megan studied road salt and its effects on wood frog eggs and Nick studied pantless treefrog tadpoles.
Jared Freedman, Annie Innes-Gold and Hubert Szczygiel graduated in 2018. Jared is doing his PhD at Oregon State University and Annie is doing hers at the University of Hawaii. Hubert has been traveling the globe on a motorcycle.
Hubert (R), Annie and Jared (L) on graduation day 2018. It was so great to work with you all for so many years!
Phoebe Reuben and Luana Deng graduated in 2017. My first seniors! I was so proud of you both. Phoebe is doing her PhD at Tulane University and Luana is finishing vet school.
Phoebe (left) and Luana (right). My first seniors to graduate. You guys were the best and set the bar high!