Susette Castañeda is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Center for Conservation Genomics and at George Mason University under the program Smithsonian-Mason School of Conservation. Castañeda is an evolutionary biologist, primarily focused on understanding many aspects of the evolutionary history and systematics of mammals, including population genetics, phylogeography, biogeography and phylogenomics, as well as methodology for sequencing DNA from ancient and noninvasive samples.
Her research at CCG is focused on the evolutionary history of the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) — the only extant nondomestic canid with a widespread natural range that spans from the southern edge of central and eastern Canada to the northern part of Venezuela and Colombia — using museum specimens and genomics.
Castañeda-Rico, S., León-Paniagua, L., Vázquez-Domínguez, E., Navarro-Sigüenza, A. 2014. Evolutionary diversification and speciation in rodents of the Mexican lowlands: the Peromyscus melanophrys species group. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 70:454-463
