Carl Veller
Assistant Professor
Department of Ecology and Evolution and the College
Carl Veller is a population geneticist who uses mathematical modeling and computer simulations to understand the dynamics of gene frequency change in evolving populations. He is particularly interested in evolutionary consequences of the genetic shuffling that occurs with sexual reproduction. Recently, he has studied the evolutionary dynamics and human health consequences of genetic variation at centromeres, the sites where the chromosome segregation machinery attaches during cell divisions. In related work, he has sought to understand how processes such as assortative mating, population structure, and natural selection can affect genomic studies in humans that attempt to associate phenotypic outcomes with variation in certain genes.
Veller received his undergraduate degree in economics and applied mathematics from the University of Cape Town. He completed a PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University and carried out postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis. He was awarded the James F. Crow Early Career Researcher Award by the Genetics Society of America and is funded by a Branco Weiss Fellowship.