- Phone:
- (812) 856-2375
- Email:
- krosvall@iu.edu
About Kim
I want to understand how behavioral evolution unfolds. I love bold experiments that embrace the complexity of the natural world.
I began my career studying why females are aggressive, using large scale field experiments to induce territorial competition among cavity-nesting birds. Through analysis of the winners of such competition, I have integrated how and why questions in animal behavior, combining muddy boots field biology with endocrinology, transcriptomics, and epigenomics. Recently, I have applied these tools to a new combination of age-old and emerging questions that extend my work into to macroevolution, range expansion, stress resilience, and the physiological mechanisms that facilitate these universal phenomena. My next five years of research will address: (1) How does natural selection build a complex phenotype? And, (2) How do behavioral and physiological adaptations support responses to environmental challenges?
DEGREES
2009 Ph.D., Biology, Duke University
2001 B.S., Biology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
APPOINTMENTS
2021-present Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Indiana University
2013-present Affiliated Faculty, Program in Neuroscience, Indiana University
2014-2021 Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Indiana University
2012-2014 Assistant Scientist, Department of Biology, Indiana University
2009-2012 NIH Postdoctoral Fellow, Indiana University
*family leave Fall 2014 and Fall 2017
2025 Elected Fellow, Animal Behavior Society
2019 Trustees’ Teaching Award, Indiana University
2011-12 National Research Service Award (NRSA) Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship
2009-11 Common Themes in Reproductive Diversity, NIH T32HD049336 Fellowship
Google Scholar Link: h = 25 (2166 citations total)
ORCID iD:0000-0003-3766-9624
60 peer reviewed publications, at journals including Science, PNAS, Nature Ecology Evolution, Molecular Ecology, Functional Ecology, Hormones & Behavior, American Naturalist, Journal of Animal Ecology, Animal Behavior
NSF IOS-2411741. Lead PI: Rosvall. 2025-2029. "Collaborative research: Is behavior on the front-line of solving the problem of inescapable heat? Levering intraspecific variation in a cavity-nesting bird thriving in heat." $961,030 D+I
NSF CAREER, IOS-1942192. PI: Rosvall. 2020 to current (NCE since 2025). "CAREER: How female aggression evolves: scaling genomics and phenomics from individuals to species” $1,145,396 D+I, including REP, INTERN, Mid-Career, and Career-Life Balance supplements.
Indiana CTSI. PI: Rosvall. “Genomic tool-building for the tree swallow: enabling epigenetic research on social stress” $7,548 Direct. 2018 to 2020
NSF IOS-1656109. PI: Rosvall. Co-PIs: Tang, Rusch. 2017 to 2020. Testing hypotheses of social priming in females” $546,214 D+I, including Career-life Balance supplement.
NIH R21 HD073583. PI: Rosvall. Co-PIs: Ketterson, Tang. $416,547 D+I. 2012 to 2016. "How social challenges prime the brain and body for social instability”
BIOL-Z460 Animal Behavior ~55 undergraduates, every fall
BIOL-L581 Behavioral Ecology ~8 graduate students, every other spring
Departmental Service
Committee on the use of AI in Dissertations (IU Biology) 2023-ongoing
Promotion & Hiring Committees (various) 2021-ongoing
IU Biology, Committee on Women in Biology 2021-ongoing
Disciplinary Writing Workshop for mid-career PhD students 2021-ongoing
EEB Graduate Program, Admissions Committee 2019-2022
Graduate Recruitment Weekend EEB representative; Chair in 2019 2016, ‘18, ‘19
Biology Department Planning Committee (DPC) 2016-2019
EEB Brown Bag Co-Instructor, Seminar in Ecology and Evolution 2018 (SP)
University Service
BIACUC Committee, Biology Representative 2021-present
IU Proposal Development Services, Expert Panel on NSF CAREER grants 2021-present
CISAB’s NSF REU Program, Executive Committee 2018-present
CTRD NIH training grant, Seminar Coordinator 2017-present
CISAB Steering Committee 2015-present
CTRD NIH training grant, Steering Committee 2014-present
Professional Societies, Memberships
Society for the Study of Evolution, Animal Behavior Society, Graduate Women in Science, Phi Beta Kappa National Honor, Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology, Sigma Xi
Professional Societies, Service
Working Group on the use of AI in Integrative Undergraduate Courses 2023-ongoing
MidCareer Brain Trust – outlining initiatives for midcareer success 2021-ongoing
SICB, ABS, and SBN, Mentor-mentee meetups 2019-ongoing
Grants, Manuscripts, and Books reviewed
20+ journals, one book, six funding agencies
2024. Public Education Related to the April 8 total solar eclipse. SolarBird App Development (with Paul Macklin and Liz Aguilar) and Community Science Project on bird behavior before, during, and after totality. Media: Fox59 Indy, Scientific American, NPR’s Academic Minute, WFIU, Chronicle of Higher Ed, TIME, IDS News, & IU
2020-present. Bird Tour of Bloomington. Created content for a 14-stop digital nature tour of Clear Creek Tail. The tour is activated by a QR code, and it integrates into an app run by the City of Bloomington’s Parks and Recreation Department.
2015-present. E-Birdhouse development: Working with IU School of Education to develop a wired nestbox as an educational tool in K-12 local schools.
2015-present. Rosvall & lab members volunteering at public events including IU Sciencefest, Brownie Math/Science Day, Birdfest; including game on competition for nesting sites, geared towards elementary-age kids.
2015-present. Rosvall & lab members expanding habitat for cavity-nesting birds. We have increased the number of nestboxes and breeding birds by about 10-fold. We now monitor over 300 nestboxes around Monroe, Brown, and Morgan counties, which create needed breeding habitat for hundreds of birds each year.
2023. Amos Butler Audubon Society Newsletter, feature article on our work on thermal tolerance in tree swallow chicks.