Dr. Elizabeth Mae Brooks
- Post-doctoral Researcher
Contact Info
Research —
Faculty Sponsor: Katya Mack
My doctoral research entailed the development of bioinformatics analysis frameworks to address a variety of questions, ranging from the origins of life to the genetic mechanisms underlying local adaptation. I also created the freeCount analysis framework to provide researchers with interactive R Shiny applications and a series of tutorials for a structured approach to count data analysis. Currently, I am working with Dr. Katya Mack to investigate how gene-by-environment interactions influence the evolution of complex adaptive traits.
Selected Publications —
McManus, W. R., Mulvey, K., Brooks, E. M., Sanders, S. A., & Schorey, J. S. (2025). Growth in biofilms prepares Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis for the macrophage microenvironment. Frontiers in microbiology, 16, 1709239. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1709239
Brooks, E.M., Sanders, S.A., & Pfrender, M.E. (2024). FreeCount: A Coding Free Framework for Guided Count Data Visualization and Analysis. In Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2024: Human Powered Computing (PEARC '24). Association for Computing Machinery. New York, NY, USA. Article 37, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1145/3626203.3670605
Brooks, E., Roberts, G., Scoville, A. & Jagodzinski, F. (2017). ModEDI: An extendable software architecture for examining the effects of developmental interactions on evolutionary trajectories. IEEE 7th International Conference on Computational Advances in Bio and Medical Sciences (ICCABS). Orlando, FL, USA. pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1109/ICCABS.2017.8114300.
Brooks, E., Scoville, A., & Jagodzinski, F. (2015). An extensible software infrastructure for testing the evolutionary consequences of developmental interactions. In Proceedings of the 6th ACM Conference on Bioinformatics. Computational Biology and Health Informatics (BCB '15). Association for Computing Machinery. New York, NY, USA. 557–558. https://doi.org/10.1145/2808719.2816837.
Selected Presentations —
FreeCount: A Coding Free Framework for Guided Count Data Visualization and Analysis. 2024 Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2024: Human Powered Computing (PEARC '24).
ModEDI: An extendable software architecture for examining the effects of developmental interactions on evolutionary trajectories. 2017 IEEE 7th International Conference on Computational Advances in Bio and Medical Sciences (ICCABS).
An extensible software infrastructure for testing the evolutionary consequences of developmental interactions. 2015 The ACM Conference on Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, and Health Informatics (ACM-BCB).
Awards & Honors —
2026 IRACDA Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Kansas
2024 CRC Best At Large Award for computational sciences and visualization, University of Notre Dame
2022 NFCDS Senior Pedagogy Fellow, University of Notre Dame
2021 NFCDS Pedagogy Fellow, University of Notre Dame
2018 7th Annual Graduate Student Symposium lightning session honorable mention, Western Washington University
2014 SOURCE Best Poster Presentation Award, Central Washington University