Back to Home Page

Eric Robert Hagen

Curriculum Vitae

Personal Information

• Address: 1105 North University Ave., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
• Email: erhagen@umich.edu

Education

• PhD, University of Arkansas, Biology (2023)
  • Dissertation: Time and Chance Happen to Them All: A Macroevolutionary Examination of the Effects of Whole Genome Multiplications
  • Advisor: Jeremy M. Beaulieu
• BA, Wesleyan University, Biology and Earth & Environmental Sciences (2018)
  • Senior Thesis: Examining “Small Leaf Bias” in the Hell Creek and Fort Union Formations Using Secondary Vein Scaling
  • Advisor: Dana L. Royer

Employment

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan (2025 - present)
  • Mentor: Thais Vasconcelos
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto (2023 - 2025)
  • Mentor: C. Tomomi Parins-Fukuchi

Honors, Awards, and Funding

• Graduate Student Research Award, Society of Systematic Biologists (2022)
  • $3,000
• Fulbright College Graduate Dissertation Research Award, University of Arkansas (2022)
  • $5,000
• Distinguished Doctoral Fellowship, University of Arkansas (2018 - 2022)
  • $88,000
• College of the Environment Summer Internship, Wesleyan University (2017)
  • $4,000

Teaching Experience

• Teaching Assistant: BIOL 3023, Evolutionary Biology (University of Arkansas)
  • Spring 2022 - Spring 2023
• Teaching Assistant: BIOL 2211, Human Physiology Lab (University of Arkansas)
  • Spring 2020 - Fall 2021
• Teaching Assistant: BIOL 4153, Biology of Global Change (University of Arkansas)
  • Spring 2019
• Teaching Assistant: BIOL 1541, Principles of Biology Lab (University of Arkansas)
  • Fall 2018 & Fall 2019

Research Interests

• Evolutionary biology
• Phylogenetic comparative methods
• Polyploidy
• Diversification
• Biogeography

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• Thompson, J.B., Hagen, E.R., Forward, E.A., Pérez-Escobar, O.A., Clark, J.W., and Priest, N.K. 2025. Frequent shifts in pollination strategy are decoupled from diversification in terrestrial orchids. EcoEvoRxiv Link here
• Hagen, E.R., and Beaulieu, J.M. 2024. New beginnings for dead ends: polyploidy, -SSE models and the dead-end hypothesis. Annals of Botany 134 (6): 923-932. Link here
• Hagen, E.R. 2024. A critique of Thompson and Ramírez-Barahona (2023) or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the fossil record. Biology Letters 20: 20240039. Link here
• Hagen, E.R., Vasconcelos, T., Boyko, J.D., and Beaulieu, J.M. 2024. Investigating historical drivers of latitudinal gradients in polyploid plant biogeography: a multiclade perspective. American Journal of Botany 111 (8): e16356. Link here
• Hagen, E.R., and Mason, C.M. 2024. Differences in pathogen resistance between diploid and polyploid plants: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Oikos 2024 (5): e09908. Link here
• Boyko, J.D., Vasconcelos, T., Hagen, E.R., and Beaulieu, J.D. 2023. The evolutionary responses of life‐history strategies to climatic variability in flowering plants. New Phytologist 240 (4): 1587-1600. Link here
• Lanno, S.M., Lam, I., Drum, Z.A., Gregory, S.M., Shimshak, S.J., Becker, M.V., Brew, K.E., Budhiraja, A., Carter, E.A., Chigweshe, L., Collins, K.P., Earley, T., Einstein, H.L., Fan, A.A., Goss, S.S., Hagen, E.R., Hutcheon, S.B., Kim, T.T., Mitchell, M.A., Neri, N.R., Patterson, S.E., Ransom, G., Sanchez, G.J., Weiner, B.M., Zhao, D., and Coolon, J.D. 2019. Genomics analysis of L-DOPA exposure in Drosophila sechellia. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics 9 (12): 3973-3980. Link here
• Hagen, E.R., Royer, D.L., Moye, R.A., and Johnson, K.R. 2019. No large bias within species between the reconstructed areas of complete and fragmented fossil leaves. PALAIOS 34 (1): 43-48. Link here

Popular Articles

• Tye, S.P., and Hagen, E.R. 2022. The perennial seeds of Zapata. Science for the People 25 (1): 40-44. Link here

Invited Talks

• Hagen, E.R., and Beaulieu, J.M. April 2, 2025. Using -SSE models to study diversification after neopolyploidy and paleopolyploidy. Polyploidy Webinar. Online via Zoom. Recording here
• Hagen, E.R. March 27, 2025. How polyploidy affects plant evolution: traits, diversification, and biogeography in phylogenetic context. University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA.

Conference Presentations

• Hagen, E.R., and Parins-Fukuchi, C.T. 2025. Biotic replacements and macroevolutionary lags: searching for mechanisms. Evolution Conference. Athens, Georgia, USA.
• Hagen, E.R., Pease, J.B., and Parins-Fukuchi, C.T. 2024. Integrating phylogenomic and paleobiological approaches to investigate the emergence of novelty in flowering plants. Evolution Conference. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
• Hagen, E.R., and Beaulieu, J.M. 2023. Directly testing for diversification lags after polyploidization. Botanical Society of America Conference. Boise, Idaho, USA.
• Hagen, E.R., Vasconcelos, T.N.C., Boyko, J.D., and Beaulieu, J.M. 2022. The biogeography of polyploid plants in historical and phylogenetic context. Evolution Conference. Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
• Hagen, E.R., Vasconcelos, T.N.C., Boyko, J.D., and Beaulieu, J.M. 2022. Climatic instability through time shaped the global distribution of polyploid diversity in flowering plants. International Biogeography Society Conference. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• Hagen, E.R., and Beaulieu, J.M. 2019. An event-based model for examining the influence of genome duplications on diversification dynamics. Botanical Society of America Conference. Tucson, Arizona, USA.

Editorial Board and Reviewer Experience

Review for: American Journal of Botany, Annals of Botany, AoB Plants, Cell, Evolution, Global Ecology & Biogeography, New Phytologist, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Systematic Biology

Volunteering and Outreach

• Research presentation competitions
  • Lightning talk moderator, 19th Annual University of Toronto Atwood Colloquium in Ecology & Evolution, 2025
  • Judge, University of Toronto EEB Undergraduate Research Fair, 2025
  • Judge, University of Toronto Science Rendezvous Festival, 2024
  • Judge, University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Week, 2022
• Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3902, Unit 5 (Postdocs)
  • Unit 5 Lead Steward, 2025
  • Grievance Council member, 2025
  • Unit 5 Steward for EEB Dept., 2024 – 2025
  • Contract Action Team Member, 2023 – 2024
• University of Arkansas Wildlife Society
  • Vice President + Treasurer, 2022 – 2023
  • Participated in native plant seed collecting, tree planting, predator cam installation, clean-ups, and other projects, 2018 – 2023
• Wesleyan Center for Prison Education
  • Tutored students at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, CT with math and writing, 2015 – 2016

References

• Jeremy Beaulieu
  • jmbeauli@uark.edu, 479-575-2618; Dept. of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas; Fayetteville, AR 72701
• Tomomi Parins-Fukuchi
  • tomo.fukuchi@utoronto.ca, 416-978-8436; Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto; Toronto, ON M5S 3B2
• Thais Vasconcelos
  • tvasc@umich.edu; Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, MI 48109
• Chase Mason
  • chase.mason@ubc.ca; Dept. of Biology, University of British Columbia Okanagan; Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7
• Dana Royer
  • droyer@wesleyan.edu, 860-685-2836; Dept. of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Wesleyan University; Middletown, CT 06457

Affiliations

• Botanical Society of America
• International Biogeography Society
• Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology
• Society for the Study of Evolution
• Society of Systematic Biologists