Emily Baker

I am a lab technician in the Song Laboratory of Insect Systematics and Evolution, affiliated with the ASU NEON Biorepository and the NSF Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute. Due to my background in applied math and computer science, I began working for Dr. Hojun Song as an undergraduate researcher in bioinformatics at Texas A&M. Since then, I have come to ASU to continue my work on our current project that seeks to identify the genetic mechanisms behind locust phase polyphenism in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, using genomic, transcriptomic, and metagenomic analyses.

I am originally from Austin, Texas and attended Texas A&M University for my B.S. in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science. I began working in the Song Lab the summer before my senior year, and continued my work through the move from Texas A&M to ASU. During my time in the Song Lab I have utilized a diverse catalogue of computational methods to answer a wide range of questions within Orthoptera, including questions surrounding diet, phase transition, pesticide effectiveness, population genetics, and convergent evolution.

I will officially join the Song Lab as a PhD student in Biology in Fall 2026.