Delia Shelton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Publications
Biography: I graduated from Southwestern University with a BS in Animal Behavior and Spanish. After spending a year abroad conducting research at Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica and University of Ghana, I received a teaching certificate from Prairie View A&M University. I then taught science at an inner-city high school in the 7th largest school district in the United States. In 2016, I completed a dual PhD in Psychological and Brain Sciences and Evolution Ecology and Behavior. I was awarded 7 fellowships including a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a United Negro College Fund•Merck Fellowship, and have published 22 scholarly works. I completed a NSF Postdoctoral fellowship studying the social lives of zebrafish by splitting time between the labs of Drs. Jens Krause (Leibniz Institute), Dennis Higgs (University of Windsor), and Robyn Tanguay (Oregon State University). I am a member of the Animal Behavior Society Diversity Committee and former coordinator of their Charles H. Turner program. I completed an NIH National Institutes Environmental Health and Safety (NIEHS) K99/R00 postdoctoral fellowship at Oregon State University studying how cadmium leads to behavioral disorders. I am now an assistant professor at the University of Miami studying how contaminants affect human and environmental health. In 2020, I was elected to a three year term as a Member-At-Large of the Animal Behavior Society. My research passion lies in using basic research to translate science into practical solutions while cultivating a diverse talent pool. In accordance with these goals, my research balances basic science, translational research, and industry needs while involving people from marginalized groups. My research program focuses on understanding how environmental features impact multi-level organizations (e.g., individuals, groups, populations) to protect ecosystems and human health. We employ animal behavior, field studies, social network analyses, calcium imaging, and next generation sequencing in zebrafish to identify novel mechanisms and predict consequences of environmental change. These approaches allow us to understand the impact of environmental change at the cellular, organ (eyes, brain), individual, group, and population scale. Currently, my lab has three active lines of research: 1) tightly integrated lab and field studies to understand the development and evolution of social behavior, 2) identifying the mechanisms that lead environmental contaminants (metals, cadmium, lead, PFAS, microplastics) to induce behavioral disorders, and 3) developing commercializable tools to enhance finfish aquaculture.
