Faculty Research Spotlight

Bio Questions

Name: Dr. Russell Pfau

Rank: Professor

Home department: Biological Sciences

How long have you been a faculty member at Tarleton?

Since August 2000

Where did you get your Ph.D.?

Oklahoma State University

Fun facts: In my personal time, I’m obsessed with photo documenting as many different animals, plants, and fungi as I can. I post them on iNaturalist, an online platform for documenting biodiversity worldwide. I’m only up to 3,712 species so far—a lot more to go still! It’s been very inspirational engaging with “citizen scientists” using this platform.

Discussion Questions

What is your research focus?

Population genetics. Uncovering patterns of genetic diversity among populations and studying hybridization between closely related species.

What drew you to your field?

Biology has been a life-long interest, but I was drawn into field biology by Dr. Fred Stangl at Midwestern State University. From there I became interested in genetics by sitting on the floor of a storeroom adjacent to my thesis advisor’s lab digging through piles of journal article reprints. That was Dr. Walt Dalquest (Dr. Linda Schultz’s father)—a really amazing old-school biologist. For my PhD, I had to make a tough decision because I still had such broad interests. I ultimately went with population genetics and was supported in that pursuit by my PhD advisers Drs. Karen McBee and Ron Van den Bussche. Those four people were my role models during that critical period when my research interests were being established.

What has been one of your most exciting discoveries?

I think that I may I’ve discovered a new species—that sort of thing is pretty exciting to most biologists and never something I thought I’d have the opportunity to do. It’s in an obscure group of wildflowers that only blooms for a month in late winter/early spring and then goes dormant for the rest of the year. I’m not a botanist, so this happened spontaneously stemming from my iNaturalist hobby. But it’s now a full-fledged research project. Unfortunately, there’s no grant funding for discovering new species! And, out of fear of jinxing myself, it might not turn out to be a new species in the end—I’ve got more field and lab work to do before I can say for sure.

Any advice for our junior research faculty?

Realize that the mid-career stage of your life is racing toward you like a bullet train. By the time it arrives, Tarleton will be a very different place than what it is now. Prepare for that certainty as best you can!

How have you been able to engage students in your research program?

I’ve always had a steady flow of undergraduate and graduate students that I’ve worked alongside in my research lab. About 60 over the past 23 years. At the university level, I supported undergraduate research by proposing and creating what was called the Office of Student Research and Creative Activities about a decade ago. That office no longer exists at Tarleton, but some colleges still retain the sorts of funding opportunities which that office facilitated. Without the support of funded undergraduate research, very few of my research projects would have ever happened—and many students wouldn’t have been afforded these types of opportunities.

How have you overcome challenges in research?

My greatest challenge over the past few years has been gaining the necessary skills needed to collect and analyze genomics-level data. Just acquiring a computer running Linux took an entire semester—then I had to learn how to work within such a different operating system using the command line. Fortunately, I had two committed undergraduates at the time who played a large role in pushing my lab into the genomics era. Given the rapidly changing nature of genomics research, there is no agreed upon set of analysis criteria— so critical decisions must be made based on multiple, nuanced details of one’s data with conflicting advice as to which approach is optimum. These decisions still plague me as I begin data analysis for my current project, funded by Texas Parks & Wildlife, to provide information that can be used to make management decisions of a species of frog threatened by habitat loss.