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The experience of holding a tarantula in the Arizona desert was a critical point in Lacie Newton’s career trajectory.

So was the experience of studying with Dr. Brent Hendrixson, professor of biology at Millsaps College.

“His passion for research, teaching and scientific outreach inspired me to change my career trajectory from a medical doctor to an evolutionary biology professor,” said Newton, now a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Davis.

Newton recently co-authored an article about her research on folding-door spiders in the journal Molecular Ecology. Hendrixson was a member of the research team.

“My research focuses on classifying and describing the Earth’s increasingly threatened biodiversity, specifically cryptic species in the trapdoor spider genus Aptostichus, using genomic-scale data and various bioinformatic tools,” said Newton.

A 2016 graduate of Millsaps with a degree in…