Patrick Foley

Patrick Foley

Theoretical population biologist and pollination biologist. I teach biology and statistics (in 15 different flavors so far) for the Department of Biological Sciences of the California State University at Sacramento. Courses I have taught include: General Biology, Botany, Zoology, Genetics, Ecology, Biostatistics, Evolution, Population and Community Ecology, and everybody's favorite, Biogeography. At Davis I have taught Evolution, Plant Evolution, Population Genetics and more.

familyI am the oldest of seven children, was raised in Maryland and North Carolina, and trained by Jesuits at Gonzaga High School, Washington D.C. My BA is in James Joyce (actually English literature) from the University of Maryland, my MS is in Genetics from the University of Arizona and I have a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Genetics (under Michael Turelli) from the University of California at Davis. I may be the world's tallest theoretical population biologist (205cm).

I work on the theory of extinction, metapopulations and epidemiology, using probabilistic mathematical and computer models. My favorite organisms are flowering plants and their pollinators, but ticks and bacteria figure in my nightmares. My wife, Janet Foley and I have two children, Brangwyn (8) and Colin (14) for whom my older daughter Yla feels we do not set firm enough limits. There are also a random number of vertebrate and arthropod pets around the house. I like to play guitar, walk in the woods and desert, watch insects mess with plants and argue nature, politics and religion. I am trying to learn the bees of North America, but there are more than you would think, 1000 species in California alone. It is hard not to wonder why.

Curriculum Vitae
Patrick Foley's CSUS Web site
Central Valley Pollinators
Published Work

Email: patfoley@csus.edu

 

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