D. Christopher Rogers

Christopher was home schooled and took the High School Equivalency exam at age 14, starting college at 16. He eventually dropped out of college to pursue his research. He studies the evolution, biogeography, systematics, phylogeny, ecology, behavior and conservation of branchiopod crustaceans, such as fairy shrimp, tadpole shrimp and clam shrimp. He also researches the dispersal and population dynamic of mosquitoes and ticks. 

Rogers has completely self-funded his salary and research costs at our research center with external funding for the past 10 years. He has more than 200 publications, has described more than 60 new branchiopod taxa and serves as the state medical entomologist.