Swathi is a third-year PhD candidate at the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, where her dissertational research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to the evolvability (capacity to adaptively evolve) of microbial pathogens. Her research experiences have led her to think more about the importance of effective, accurate scientific communication, not only in the public sphere, but also in educational settings. At the Poorvu Center, she is a McDougal Graduate Teaching Fellow, where she continues to explore what equitable teaching practices look like in STEM classrooms and how STEM educators can engage with the history of their own fields.
Before Yale, Swathi graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in Natural Sciences (Genetics), and spent a year working as a research assistant in Singapore, where she is originally from. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing the veena, (stress) baking and a warm cup of tea or hot cocoa, depending on the season.