Margaret Rubega is a Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut. Dr. Rubega received an undergraduate degree in Biology from Southern Connecticut State University, and a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of California at Irvine. During her graduate work in George Lauder's lab she became focused on the ways in which the mechanistic interactions between avian body form and the environment influenced function, and thereby ecology; she is particularly interested in how a detailed understanding of mechanism can inform conservation. She joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut in 1993, and her work has encompassed feeding, feeding behavior, and feeding mechanics; seed dispersal, osmoregulation; thermal biology; and conservation of a wide variety of birds including shorebirds, seabirds, sparrows, shrikes, and hummingbirds.
