Emily McLean

Emily McLean is an evolutionary biologist, particularly interested in how the social environment and relationships between organisms can influence evolution.

In addition to teaching courses in biology, Dr. McLean oversees student research projects and is a participating faculty member in the Oxford Research Scholars program.  Most of the research projects she directs investigate how the genotypes present in a social group of fruit flies affects the way individuals interact.  She also uses quantitative genetic techniques to investigate the heritability of social behaviors and life history traits in wild baboons (in collaboration with the Amboseli Baboon Research Project and Susan Alberts at Duke University).  She is interested in the role of indirect genetic effects on behavior and how these effects can contribute to evolutionary constraint.

McLean received a BS degree in Biology from Bryan College and an MS degree in Biology from University of North Carolina - Greensboro.  She received her Ph.D. in Genetics and Genomics from Duke University in 2018.