Congratulations to Saminda Fernando, who presented an excellent defence of his dissertation this morning in Sri Lanka. The examining committee was unanimously impressed with Saminda’s presentation and dissertation, titled “Barriers to gene flow and the resulting endemism in an island endemic: phenotypic divergence and genetic introgression in Dinopium flamebacks of Sri Lanka.” Saminda’s main advisor is Dr. Sampath Seneviratne, who was a postdoc in the Irwin lab Senior Lecturer at the University of Colombo; and I serve as co-advisor.
During this time of COVID19, the defence was conducted over Zoom, which had the added benefit of making it easy for me to “attend.” Below are some photos from the defence:
And here is a photo from when Saminda worked with us here in Vancouver for several months in 2016:
We all wish Dr. Fernando a very warm CONGRATULATIONS!!
If you would like to read more about Saminda’s work, see:
https://www.sanctuaryasia.com/conservation/field-reports/9853-flaming-mysteries.html
https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/133/3/497/5149242
https://evolution.cmb.ac.lk/index.php/research/