Her career as an evolutionary biologist has been deeply satisfying, and her passion for all things Madagascar has been unwavering. She has devoted much of her energy to collaboration with Malagasy scholars and has spent more than a year of her life deep in the forests of Madagascar. Her research has been devoted to understanding how the myriad forces of climate, geography, genetics, and ecological interactions have converged to generate the unique and incredibly diverse biota of Madagascar. To support these activities, she received a National Science Foundation CAREER award in 2000 and a Josephine Bay Paul and C. Michael Paul Foundation Biodiversity Leadership Award in 2002.