Kyle Piller

Something's Fishy Here

Piller combines ichthyology research with mentoring of Southeastern students

As a young boy, Kyle Piller spent his summers fishing in the lakes in his hometown of Mendota, Ill., and in the waters of northern Wisconsin. That’s when Piller, the 2015 recipient of the Southeastern President’s Award for Excellence in Research, first developed his interest in fish.

Now a professor of biological sciences and ichthyologist, or fish specialist, Piller has earned a reputation among colleagues throughout the world for his studies on fish diversity, ecology and genetics. His work has also led to an enviable record in obtaining grants and an impressive array of articles published in peer-reviewed professional journals.

“Ichthyology is a field of ‘old folks’ that make up a tough circle to break into,” said Christopher Beachy, head of the Department of Biological Sciences.  “However, Kyle – despite his relatively young age – is now one of the gang. This speaks to his rapid ascent as an authority in his field.”

“Generally speaking, I am a broadly trained ichthyologist, or fish biologist, with a research focus on fish diversity,” Piller said. “I use a variety of approaches, both molecular and morphological, in conjunction with field research to study the diversity of New World fishes. I try to maintain an active research program that includes local and regional projects, while maintaining a broader international focus involving collaborations with researchers locally, regionally and internationally.”

His main areas of research include the study of fish diversity in Mexico and Central America involving more than 16 research expeditions to Mexico, Guatemala and Belize; study of fish diversity in the southeastern United States; and the population genetics of marine and freshwater fishes.

“His work is indeed at the cutting edge of many complex problems in ichthyology and evolutionary biology, particularly work on long term change in fish communities and effects of the environment on body shape in fishes,” said William J. Matthews of The University of Oklahoma and a former president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.

Southeastern Professor Emeritus William Font is particularly impressed with Piller’s knowledge of population genetics and the changes in the structure of fish populations associated with Mississippi River diversions, his study of the introduction of the Asian carp into the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, and his work associated with the BP oil spill. In that area, Piller has collaborated with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to study the biological stocks of shrimp to determine human food safety, and the sustainability of this commercially important species.

Piller came to Southeastern in 2003, after completing his masters in zoology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and his doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. At Southeastern, he serves as graduate coordinator for the department and as curator of the Southeastern Vertebrate Museum, a research collection with more than 100,000 preserved specimens of fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals.

Funding is obviously an important element of research, and Piller has received grants totaling more than $3 million in his time at Southeastern, including grants from the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.

One of Piller’s most recent and significant sources of support is a three-year, $607,000 grant awarded by the National Science Foundation in 2014, considered one of the largest individual grants ever received at Southeastern. The funds support his DNA studies of Cyprinodontiformes, a diverse order of fishes generally referred to as splitfins that consists of more than 800 species distributed throughout the world. The funds allow Piller to include graduate and undergraduate students who assist him first hand in gathering specimens, documenting findings, and helping to write papers for publication.

“I had great mentors at undergraduate and graduate levels who played pivotal roles in my development as an ichthyologist, Piller said. “They passed along their interest in and knowledge of fishes and it stuck with me.

“I strive to be a mentor to my own students, to train the next generation of ichthyologists,” he continued. “Training students, particularly graduate students, gives me the most satisfaction and is the most rewarding aspect of my job. Graduate students come to Southeastern from all over the country and outside the country to work in my lab. I depend on them to help me be as productive as I can be.”

“Kyle Piller has become, I believe, one of the brightest stars in the Department of Biological Sciences,” said colleague Font, who served on the search committee that recommended Piller’s retention. “Both the search committee and our department saw something special when we hired Kyle, and it has been most gratifying to witness his maturation and development as a research scientist, educator and colleague.