For a pdf version of my cv, please email me at msecor@oxy.edu
Education
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (August 2022 - Present)
Molecular Biology PhD Student
Co-Advisors: Dr. Matt Dean at USC and Dr. Allison Shultz at NHMLA Dept. of Ornithology
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA (2018-2022)
Bachelor of Arts, Major: Biology, Minor: History
GPA 3.57
Awards & Fellowships
Sarah H. Roberts '68 and the David H. Roberts '67 Annual Research Fellowship (Summer 2021)
URC Summer Research Fellowship (Summer 2020)
Occidental College Dean’s List (Fall 2020, Spring 2021)
Geneva & Herbert Wangeman Scholarship (2020-2021)
Richard and Frederica Welch Scholarship (2020-2021)
Research Experience
Moore Lab of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA (January 2020 - Present)
Undergraduate Researcher
Undergraduate Researcher
Summer Intern, Visiting Undergraduate Researcher
Peer Reviewed Publications
Keith Arora-Williams, Christopher Holder, Maeve Secor, Hugh Ellis, Meng Xia, Anand
Gnanadesikan, and Sarah P. Preheim. 2021. Abundant and persistent sulfide-oxidizing microbial
populations are responsive to hypoxia in the Chesapeake Bay. In prep.
Non-Peer Reviewed Publications
Maeve B. Secor and John B. McCormack. 2020. Niche divergence in the Yellow Grosbeak and
Black-thighed Grosbeak species complex. Undergraduate Research Center. Los Angeles:
Occidental College.
Maeve B. Secor and Shana K. Goffredi. 2019. Microbial community structure of neotropical
insects specialized with Passiflora. Undergraduate Research Center. Los Angeles: Occidental
College.
Presentations
2021 American Ornithological Society Conference
Recorded Presentation, Elevation and niche divergence in Mexican Yellow Grosbeaks
2021 SRP Conference, Occidental College
Virtual Talk, Evolutionary Divergence in Yellow Grosbeaks in the Forests of Mexico
2020 SRP Conference, Occidental College
Recorded Presentation, How's the Weather Up There? Elevation-driven Niche Divergence in a Bird Ranging from Mexico to Panama
2017 Maryland STEM Career Fair for Girls, Johns Hopkins University & The Bryn Mawr School for Girls
Poster, Gathering metadata on microbial communities at different strata in the Chesapeake Bay
Research Skills
Data Analytics: Stata, R
Laboratory: Next Generation Sequencing of DNA/RNA, Qubit, Gel Electrophoresis, Phenol-Chloroform Extractions of Historic DNA, Modern Tissue DNA Extraction, DNA Shearing,Library Preparation, PCR, qPCR, epicPCR, Illumina MiSeq
Museum: specimen preparation, specimen measurements using a wing ruler and digital calipers
Field: Mist netting, collection of water samples using micron filters, insect wrangler
Languages
English – Native
French – Fluent
Spanish – Beginner
Scientific Communication
The Occidental News (2018-2020) Los Angeles, CA
Staff Writer
Corporate and Foundation Relations, Office of Strategic Initiative Los Angeles, CA
(2018-2020)
Student Worker
The Sierra Club (2018) Baltimore, MD
Lobbyist
Energy Justice Network (2018) Baltimore, MD
Canvasser
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (August 2022 - Present)
Molecular Biology PhD Student
Co-Advisors: Dr. Matt Dean at USC and Dr. Allison Shultz at NHMLA Dept. of Ornithology
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA (2018-2022)
Bachelor of Arts, Major: Biology, Minor: History
GPA 3.57
Awards & Fellowships
Sarah H. Roberts '68 and the David H. Roberts '67 Annual Research Fellowship (Summer 2021)
URC Summer Research Fellowship (Summer 2020)
Occidental College Dean’s List (Fall 2020, Spring 2021)
Geneva & Herbert Wangeman Scholarship (2020-2021)
Richard and Frederica Welch Scholarship (2020-2021)
Research Experience
Moore Lab of Zoology, Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA (January 2020 - Present)
Undergraduate Researcher
- DNA extraction from historic museum specimens and modern bird tissues
- Measurements of phenotypic traits of Yellow Grosbeaks
- Niche modeling in R using GIS data collected by remote sensing satellites
Undergraduate Researcher
- Collected insects feeding on cyanogenic passionflower at La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica and dissected their digestive tracts to isolate midgut regions
- Amplified and sequenced 16s rRNA to determine symbiotic bacterial associations
Summer Intern, Visiting Undergraduate Researcher
- Collected water samples and viral filtrates via boat and canoe from various strata in the Chesapeake Bay, as well as physiochemical measurements using a probe
- Estimated bacterial and viral gene counts using qPCR
- Shotgun metagenomic library preparation and sequencing to investigate bacterial diversity
- 16s rRNA gene amplicon library preparation and sequencing
- Viral dilution incubation experiments
Peer Reviewed Publications
Keith Arora-Williams, Christopher Holder, Maeve Secor, Hugh Ellis, Meng Xia, Anand
Gnanadesikan, and Sarah P. Preheim. 2021. Abundant and persistent sulfide-oxidizing microbial
populations are responsive to hypoxia in the Chesapeake Bay. In prep.
Non-Peer Reviewed Publications
Maeve B. Secor and John B. McCormack. 2020. Niche divergence in the Yellow Grosbeak and
Black-thighed Grosbeak species complex. Undergraduate Research Center. Los Angeles:
Occidental College.
Maeve B. Secor and Shana K. Goffredi. 2019. Microbial community structure of neotropical
insects specialized with Passiflora. Undergraduate Research Center. Los Angeles: Occidental
College.
Presentations
2021 American Ornithological Society Conference
Recorded Presentation, Elevation and niche divergence in Mexican Yellow Grosbeaks
2021 SRP Conference, Occidental College
Virtual Talk, Evolutionary Divergence in Yellow Grosbeaks in the Forests of Mexico
2020 SRP Conference, Occidental College
Recorded Presentation, How's the Weather Up There? Elevation-driven Niche Divergence in a Bird Ranging from Mexico to Panama
2017 Maryland STEM Career Fair for Girls, Johns Hopkins University & The Bryn Mawr School for Girls
Poster, Gathering metadata on microbial communities at different strata in the Chesapeake Bay
Research Skills
Data Analytics: Stata, R
Laboratory: Next Generation Sequencing of DNA/RNA, Qubit, Gel Electrophoresis, Phenol-Chloroform Extractions of Historic DNA, Modern Tissue DNA Extraction, DNA Shearing,Library Preparation, PCR, qPCR, epicPCR, Illumina MiSeq
Museum: specimen preparation, specimen measurements using a wing ruler and digital calipers
Field: Mist netting, collection of water samples using micron filters, insect wrangler
Languages
English – Native
French – Fluent
Spanish – Beginner
Scientific Communication
The Occidental News (2018-2020) Los Angeles, CA
Staff Writer
Corporate and Foundation Relations, Office of Strategic Initiative Los Angeles, CA
(2018-2020)
Student Worker
- Produced condensed summaries on academic departments and professors’ research
- Creating a monthly newsletter of funding opportunities that was sent out to college faculty.
- Proofread funding proposals to individual donors, foundations, and corporations.
- Edited reports to demonstrate how the goals of funding efforts had been met by the college over time to ensure continued support from funding sources.
The Sierra Club (2018) Baltimore, MD
Lobbyist
- Lobbied for climate legislation at the Senate Offices in Washington, DC.
Energy Justice Network (2018) Baltimore, MD
Canvasser
- Canvassed in Baltimore to recruit low-income households for an incentivized recycling program aimed at reducing incinerator-bound waste
