Partners in science

Research rarely follows a predictable route. Neither do the careers built around it. Field sites shift. Offers emerge in unexpected places. Tenure clocks tick at different speeds.

For faculty couples in the College of Sciences and Mathematics, those variables double.

Across COSAM, several have built parallel careers without sacrificing momentum. Their disciplines span evolutionary biology, neuroscience, genetics, geospatial science and molecular modeling. What they share is a deep familiarity with the rhythms of scholarship — grant cycles, field seasons, revision rounds and the steady pursuit of discovery.

Hill & Hood

Geoff Hill and Wendy Hood met on Match.com after both entered the same search term: evolutionary biologist.

Their shared interest in evolution and animal biology grew into a relationship built on long conversations, long drives and a mutual understanding of academic life. At the time, Hill had been at Auburn for a decade. He is the William P. Molette Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and curator of birds at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History(AUMNH). Hood was on faculty at Coastal Carolina University and approaching tenure review. For two years, they commuted between Myrtle Beach and Auburn, trading off seven-hour drives and listening to books on tape along the way.

What mattered most to both was professional independence.

“She was her own person from the beginning,” Hill said.

Hood agreed. She had no interest in stepping off the tenure track.

“It was really important to me to stay on that trajectory,” she said.

When an opportunity emerged at Auburn, Hood first joined in a temporary research position before securing a tenure-track appointment in 2012. Her lab shifted toward mitochondrial function and life-history evolution, examining how cellular energy production shapes reproduction, longevity and performance. That pivot led to major federal funding and ultimately tenure. She’s now professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and curator of mammals at AUMNH. 

Hill continued building his internationally recognized research program on the evolution of bird coloration and ornamentation, exploring how feather color signals underlying condition and evolutionary strategy. He has published extensively and recently completed two new books, including a popular science volume.

Their research overlaps in unexpected ways. Hood’s work on mitochondrial performance connects to physiological tradeoffs and life-history strategy. Hill’s work examines how coloration reveals underlying biological condition. In some species, those threads converge.

Today, their labs operate in close collaboration. Students refer to themselves collectively as the Hood-Hill Lab, and they’ve recently published their first academic journal article as sole co-authors.

At home, the science does not entirely disappear.

“I married an ornithologist,” Hood said, laughing. “Bird people get up early. I used to be a bat person. My hours were very different.”

Travel reflects those shared interests. Instead of beaches or cruises, they choose gorilla trekking, wildlife reserves and long days outdoors. When Hood was promoted to full professor, they celebrated with a trip to Uganda. They saw birds and mammals across East Africa — a fitting reward for two evolutionary biologists who once searched for each other by discipline.

“Academics are unique,” Hood said. “It’s not just a job. We understand each other’s goals and what it takes to get there.”

Hill nodded.

“If you find someone who shares that life,” he said, “you get to build it together.”

Schwartz & Warner

Dan Warner and Tonia Schwartz, both associate professors in the Department of Biological Sciences, met as undergraduates at Iowa State University, working in adjacent research labs.

“We’d see each other in the hallway,” Warner said. “One thing led to another.”

Graduate school took them around the world — including four years in Australia — before bringing them back to Iowa and eventually south to Auburn. They arrived in 2015.

Today, their work still carries them far from campus. Warner is preparing for fieldwork in Costa Rica, while the couple is wrapping up six months in Barcelona as visiting scientists at the Institute for Evolutionary Biology.

Their research programs intersect at the edges of ecology, physiology and genetics. Warner studies how environmental conditions during embryonic development shape reptiles, linking early-life temperature and moisture to physiology, behavior and population dynamics. Schwartz investigates the genetics of wild animal populations, examining how species respond to environmental stress and how traits like reproduction and lifespan shift across generations. 

Their careers have not always advanced at the same moment. They’ve alternated opportunities — Australia for Warner’s PhD, Iowa for Schwartz’s doctorate, Birmingham for his first faculty job, Auburn for hers — adjusting timelines as needed.

“Around the world and back home,” Schwartz said.

Field seasons can stretch for weeks or months, and when one is away, the other is home holding things together.

“Dan and I both do field work, and so we will be gone and single parenting,” Schwartz said.

 

That cadence shapes everything from conference travel to anniversaries.

“Don’t ever get married during field season,” Warner joked. “Because what that means is you’re never going to spend your anniversary together.”

Their son, now 13, has spent plenty of time in the field alongside them.

“We’ve brought our son lots of times, and he helps us out,” Warner said. “We’re spending time camping and doing strenuous work out there. It’s fun.”

The demands of academia are intense and seasonal, but sharing the same profession creates a kind of shorthand.

“It’s really rewarding having a partner that is going through all the same things that you are,” Schwartz said.

Warner agrees.

“It’s always an adventure,” he said. “Having somebody to share that whole journey with makes it even better.”

Lotsch & Bernardi

Priscila Lotsch, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, and Rafael Bernardi, associate professor in the Department of Physics, met at work as research scientists in Brazil. At first, they were friends.

The relationship began to shift after Bernardi moved to the United States. Lotsch visited New York during a hurricane, and the trip turned into an unexpected point of connection. After that, long-distance conversations became a routine and, slowly, something more.

“We were just friends chatting on Skype,” Lotsch said. “Once a week. Every other day, and then every day for many hours.”

For two years, they lived on different continents and stitched together time where they could, planning around lab visits, conferences and any short window in the same city. Sometimes that meant meeting in Europe, turning professional travel into the only overlap they could count on.

“We needed to find some places in the world where we could meet each other,” Lotsch said.

Lotsch moved to Illinois in 2015 for a postdoctoral position, and she and Bernardi married three years later. In 2020, they relocated to Auburn with their son, Lucas, who was just over a year old.

Their research programs are distinct. Lotsch studies how engineered nanoparticles and microplastics interact with biological systems and what those interactions mean for human health. Bernardi uses computational tools to model proteins and molecular dynamics. But they occasionally collaborate in outreach and in the classroom. In one of Lotsch’s molecular genetics courses, Bernardi created holographic projections of rotating DNA and protein structures so students could visualize molecular processes in three dimensions.

 

Beyond the classroom, their partnership shows up in the daily pressure of academic life.

“When we have deadlines, the other one knows how important it is,” Lotsch said.

They describe science not just as a profession, but as a defining identity.

“If you ask me who I am, the first thing I’m going to answer is a scientist,” Bernardi said.

“I think for me, too,” Lotsch said. “We are all top three — science, Lucas and each other.”

When one is writing a grant or preparing a talk, the other takes over at home. On the rare evenings they are not working or parenting, they fall back on small resets: Lotsch heads to Zumba; Bernardi unwinds with a late-night video game when the house is quiet.

They also protect one ritual that is simple and nonnegotiable.

“We try almost every day to have lunch together,” Bernardi said.

They usually go somewhere fast and familiar, carving out a pause between classes, meetings and lab work.

“It’s the only time of the day that’s just for us,” Lotsch said.

Hawthorne & Hawthorne

Tim Hawthorne, professor and chair of the Department of Geosciences, and Alicia Hawthorne, senior lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences, met as undergraduates at Ohio Wesleyan University. They were in the same class freshman year, though from very different vantage points.

“We were actually in Intro to Psych together,” Alicia said. “Although he sat in the very front and didn’t talk to anybody, and I sat in the back and was social.”

They became friends that spring, then, over time, two academics learning how to build careers in motion. Graduate school took them to different campuses, followed by years of weekend commutes, widened job searches and moves tied to postdoctoral and faculty appointments. They took turns making the drive, then later navigated bigger logistics: newborns, home renovations and the kind of coordination that becomes its own second job.

“I’m the goofball. You’re the planner,” Tim said. “Logistics. We make it work.”

Over time, they learned to apply broadly and follow opportunity wherever it led. That path brought them south — first to Georgia and Florida, and now to Auburn — where, for the first time, they are in the same college.

“We both followed our passions,” Alicia said.

Alicia is a neuroscientist in the spinal cord injury field focused on regeneration. In her undergraduate research projects, she mentors students as they test new combinations of approaches that show promise on their own, looking for pairings that work better together.

"Regeneration is such a tough field because it doesn’t like to happen,” Alicia said. “We’re trying to find those things that push the neurons to grow better.”

Tim studies geospatial technologies and how people move through and interact with space. His work connects mobility, mapping and community engagement, with an emphasis on tools that translate research into public impact.

“I study how people move through space and how mapping tools can help communities understand and respond to change,” Tim said.

They know how unusual it is for two academics to land together in stable positions, especially after years of moving pieces.

“We’ve been really, really lucky,” Tim said.

From the beginning, they were intentional about how they would approach their careers. That shared clarity, they say, is part of what helped them stay successful through each transition.

“We both decided early on that we were going to pursue what we were passionate about and what we really wanted to do,” Alicia said. “Neither one of us has compromised on our professional vision.”