KevinDKohl

@kevindkohl.bsky.social

993 Followers 987 Following

I study the physiology and gut microbiome of wild vertebrates 🐸🐭💩🦠 Assoc. Professor at University of Pittsburgh - #QueerSTEM 🏳️‍🌈 #poly - he/him

Conceptual figure depicting various approaches to understand host-microbe interactions across environments. The figure contains 3 columns, with the first depicting observational field studies across land use gradients (skyscrapers to depict cities, and trees to depict natural landscapes). In the middle are mesocosm experiments in the field, or large pools of water that can artificially re-create ponds. In the final column are lab-based studies, where organisms are held in small tanks in the lab.
A photo of a mayapple plant, which is a small spring ephemeral flower. It has a single white flower with six petals, and is under an umbrella-like leaf. The photo is from a low, ground perspective with forest in the background.
A photo collage of images from a recent conference. Images include a banquet on the beach, another of a banquet in a small garden pavillion, two images of an audience conference attendees paying attention. I am pictured giving my keynote address to the group, and in another photo receiving a plaque from the Program Officer of the meeting. Text says "AChemS XLVIII, 2026 Annual Meeting, St. Pete Beach, Florida"
Multiple crayon or marker drawings of the “holobiont”. Most include compartments of “host genome” “environmental microbes” and have them overlapping or interacting in different ways
An abstract collage artwork of various images of plants, animals, etc. most images are strongly geometric, either rectangular or circular, with radiating colors in the background.
A meme of a newspaper or book, with a photo showing two men kissing, and text that reads “You can show two men killing each other at three in the afternoon in any country in the world on public television, but you can't show two men kissing each other."
A closeup image of a small bucket filled with pieces of plastic garbage collected from a beach. The sand and water are visible in the background
Photo of the flower bud of our night blooming cereus flower, which is a large white and pinkish bud that progressively becomes "puffy" just before opening. In the background are other house plants in an outdoor backyard
Video of a new tattoo on my left forearm, in a woodcut or etching style, depicting Diogenes the Cynic holding a dog and a lantern
Infographic or schematic of our experimental design. The top row shows three photos of our rodent species: herbivorous montane voles (Microtus montanus), omnivorous white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) and carnivorous grasshopper mice (Onychomys torridus). Then, it shows four different diets (High Fiber - Low Protein ; High Fiber - High Protein; Low Fiber - Low Protein ; Low Fiber - High Protein). At the bottom is the question "Do different species show similar or unique physiological and microbial responses to diet?"
Photo of a tree in our backyard with various wooden elements that make a squirrel tree house. This includes several platforms and some small sets of stairs.
Photo of myself and two graduating students, Karen and Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s service dog, Serenity in front of a blue and yellow background (Pitts schools colors). We are all wearing graduation regalia (caps, gowns, and PhD hoods), and Karen and Elizabeth are holding their Diploma cases.
A PowerPoint slide with a photo of Pittsburgh, showing tall buildings, bridges, and rivers. The title is “what types of animals would be adapted to Pittsburgh?”. Then, there are pictures of crafted creatures and animals made of pipe cleaners and googly eyes
The entrance to the Glass Lifeforms exhibit, showing one of the pieces which are several large glass poppies in a vase, by Evelyn Gottshall Baker
A drawing of a come moth, a large moth with eyespots and long tails on its wings
A slide from our lesson on animal color. The text says Warning Colors- Stay Away! • Bright, bold colors like red, yellow, and orange can be a warning to predators that the animal is dangerous or poisonous. • This is called "aposematism" And contains photos of a monarch butterfly, tenrec, coral snake, and milkweed bug
Photo of the book “Feminism in the Wild: how human biases shape our understanding of animal behavior” by Ambika Kamath and Melina Packer. The cover has a group of female lions and the book is on a wooden table
A protest sign reading “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching. Even when doing the wrong thing is legal” - Aldo Leopold. The sign also included silhouettes of leaves and a photo of Aldo Leopold
Photo of Karen, myself, and Elizabeth all smiling at the camera, with the background of our living room.
Several Perler bead craft pieces (the beads that one irons together for them to melt). There is a monkey, tree frog, two birds, a bird in a nest, a crab, a raccoon, an octopus, a star with a face, and two bacteria. The background is a wooden desk
Photo of me with my partners Ben and Josh, all wearing coordinated blue outfits for the wedding. We are standing in front of a flower archway, with the ocean in the background
Photo looking down on a snow covered sidewalk, with human shoe footprints, and also a wandering set of foot prints left from a bird
Photo of several framed art pieces (watercolor and collage) propped up against a couch. In the foreground is a small dog seeming to be looking at the art.
Photo of 6 framed abstract paintings. Two are quite large, and have networks of circles connected by white lines the background is a mixture of splatter paint and circles of watercolor. Four of the framed paintings are quite small, and have just one circle in them each.
My coffee mug, which has text saying SOMEDAY I HOPE TO RESPECT MYSELF AS MUCH AS I RESPECT BEYONCE.
"queer not as being about who you're having sex with (that can be a dimension of it); but queer as being about the self that is at odds with everything around it and has to invent, create and find a place to speak and to thrive and to live." — bell hooks
Ben planting a small plant into our raised garden
Photo of Josh, Ben, and I at a baseball game. The background of the photo has a baseball field and scoreboard
A group of high school students surrounding a museum curator holding a box of moths
Close up photo of a fallen leaf sitting on a background of cement. The leaf has that four colors (green, yellow, red, brown) in four distinct patches.
A geometric water color of different brightly colored shapes, with white lines that had been taped off separating the shapes. The shapes also have splotches of watercolor within them.
a mixed-media art piece with splattered water color as the background. Overlaid is the cutout of a black and white photo with an elephant with its mouth open.
Artwork with mottled water color in the background, with the overlay of collage of an image of a Hunting Dog. There are also overlays of circles of text cut from the field guide, which contains text descriptions like "no animals exactly like any other", "soft yowl", or "usually on legs", "capable of success"
an abstract water color with a mixture of geometric and fluid organic shapes
Collage artwork, using a watercolor as the background. Overlaid, are cutouts of illustrations of two fish which go outside the borders of the watercolor. These fish have the word "fishes" covering their eyes. In the middle, the word "Fish" is large, and tilted, with a number of small cut-outs of the word "fishes" below in a sporadic arrangement.
An art piece with a collage of four cutout photos of amphibans (a frog, toad, and two salamanders), with cutout text that is covering the eyes of these animals. In the background is a watercolor of greens and blues. The cutout text on top reads: Amphibians Amphibians are animals that live double lives. A toad is usually a chubby creature with rough, bumpy skin and no teeth. Tadpoles are sometimes called polliwogs. A frog's mouth is very large.
A book titled "Photography through the microscope" with two price tags from thrift stores. The cover has colorful photos of up-close microscope photos of cells, structures, etc.