Colin Purrington is associate professor of evolutionary biology at Swarthmore College. His research interests are the evolution of resistance to parasitic plants, the use of transgenic manipulation to explore adaptation, and the use of gametophytic selection of mutation purging. He received his B.A. from Reed College and his Ph.D.  in ecology and evolutionary biology from Brown University. He has taught at Brown University, Washington University, and the University of Chicago. He has been at Swarthmore since 1997. He is the author of many papers and the recipient of a number of grants and awards.