Anthony Sarkiss, Pauli Murray ‘2021

Analyzing Change and Finding Connections in Evolutionary Biology

By Max Heimowitz.

Anthony Sarkiss is fascinated by connection and change: the connections between the small and large, from molecular biology to biospheric data, and systems thinking, determining the ecological drivers of change and locating areas of resistance. A senior E&EB major in Pauli Murray college, Sarkiss is a certified scuba diver and has conducted research since the summer of his first year at Yale—first in the Jacob Lab and now the Edwards Lab. 

Sarkiss became interested in ecology when he was in high school, having spent time working in a botanical garden and participating in his school’s scuba club. He was involved with the Surfrider Foundation in Miami, where he calls home, contributing to dune and coral restoration efforts. At Yale, Sarkiss has both volunteered and worked for the Marsh Botanic Gardens greenhouse since his first year, in addition to being a member of the Community Health Educators and the Arab Students Association.

Sarkiss has immersed himself in research not only in the classroom—by taking field-based classes, studying local forests and lakes in Connecticut—but also by working in the lab. As the only undergraduate student to enroll in the graduate course “Mathematical Models and Quantitative Methods in Evolution and Ecology,” Sarkiss was initially wary, yet also excited by the freedom he found in shaping his studies. Whereas graduate students used the class to build models related to their own interests, Sarkiss did not have any particular question or area of study on which he sought to focus; he simply “picked a cool question and was able to run with it.” Sarkiss was then able to study the effects of climate change—in particular, of hurricane frequency and intensity—on species richness and diversity in ecological islands in the Caribbean, after having created a model in this graduate course. Enrolling in a graduate-level class as an undergraduate really served to demystify the experience for him, as it was not as daunting as he had initially thought.

Sarkiss has found guidance, support, and open communication channels every step of the way in his research work, and his experience in the lab has shown just how much his interests in biology hold true. There is a difficulty inherent in the interdisciplinary biology he has aspired to study as an undergraduate student, especially in how the departments are split up, making it tougher to answer the questions that he seeks to pose. Not a “lake person” or “bird person,” he hopes to take some time off after graduating in the spring in search of something that will best match his interests.