Robert W. Thacker
2026 Sigma Xi Fellow
Statement
"I joined the Society in 2001 and served as Treasurer of the University of Alabama at Birmingham chapter from 2001 to 2006. Through chapter activities, including a monthly seminar series, I was able to interact colleagues across multiple disciplines on the campus. Throughout my career, I have mentored students in grant writing as they applied for Grants-in-Aid of Research from Sigma Xi. Five students have received awards, and all the applicants have gained skills in preparing research project proposals. Financial support from Sigma Xi has enabled multiple doctoral students in my laboratory to add additional field sites, experiments, and analyses to their dissertations, enhancing the quality of their research."
Biography
Dr. Thacker received his B.S. degree from Duke University (1990) and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan (1995). After conducting postdoctoral research at the University of Guam and the University of Hawaii, he joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2015, he moved to Stony Brook University and served as Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolution until 2021.
He is currently a Professor at Stony Brook University. In addition, Dr. Thacker is a Research Associate of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Dr. Thacker’s research focuses on taxonomy, systematics, and the evolution of ecological interactions. Sponges and their symbiotic microbial communities frequently serve as model systems to study coevolution among hosts and symbionts, the evolution of community structure, and the evolution of mutualistic interactions. Student projects have considered a diverse array of study organisms, including sponges, snails, copepods, scallops, clams, bryozoans, and tunicates.
Recent projects in the Thacker lab investigate the ecological and evolutionary processes that structure the biodiversity of microbiomes, with a focus on community assembly, diversification, and coevolution. These studies shift perspectives from host evolution to microbial evolution and develop models of host-symbiont interactions that function across multiple spatial, temporal, and taxonomic scales.
Dr. Thacker collaborates with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to contribute to aquatic invasive species (AIS) management on Long Island, New York. The AIS team monitors and surveys aquatic plants at a variety of locations, working in partnership with multiple stakeholders to conduct removals of invasive species and promote growth of native species.