Amanda Cass is an evolutionary biologist broadly interested in the developmental mechanisms that generate morphological novelty, particularly in ray-finned fishes. Her research uses a variety of techniques to characterize gene expression patterns and to test hypotheses about the connections between gene regulatory network evolution and morphological diversity.  In the classroom, she is passionate about teaching vertebrate anatomy and evolutionary developmental biology, as well as contributing to introductory biology curricula.

Dr. Cass earned an AB in both History and Biology at Mount Holyoke College and a PhD from Cornell University in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.  She was a Fulbright Fellow at the Australian Museum, a postdoctoral research scholar at North Carolina State University, and held faculty positions Kennesaw State University and James Madison University before moving to Wesleyan.