Faculty Member

Dr. Carl Hjelmen

Biography

I joined the Department of Biology at UVU in 2021. While originally from a small town in South Dakota, I spent 8 years in Texas at Texas A&M University completing my PhD and two postdoctoral research positions. In my first postdoctoral position with Dr. Aaron Tarone, I investigated miRNA and protein makers of immature development in forensically relevant flies. In my second postdoctoral position with Dr. Heath Blackmon, I continued to investigate genome size evolution in insects, as well as whole genome sequencing of a variety of insect species. I received my PhD in Entomology in 2017 at Texas A&M University with J. Spencer Johnston investigating genome size evolution in Drosophila species utilizing comparative phylogenetic methods.

For more information, check out my website at https://cehjelmen.github.io

Education

PhD, Texas A&M University, 2017

Major: Entomology

BA, Augustana College, 2013

Major: Biology

Teaching

BIOL 4300

Bioinformatics and Genome Analysis, Fall 2025

BIOL 4400

Genomics, Fall 2025

BIOL 1011

Introduction to Bioinformatics, Fall 2025

BIOL 1011

Introduction to Bioinformatics, Fall 2025

BIOL 2900R

Special Topics In Biology, Fall 2025

BIOL 3500

Genetics, Summer 2025

BIOL 4600

Bioinformatics Capstone, Spring 2025

BIOL 1011

Introduction to Bioinformatics BB, Spring 2025

BIOL 1011

Introduction to Bioinformatics BB, Spring 2025

BIOL 4500

Principles of Evolution WE, Spring 2025

BIOL 4500

Principles of Evolution WE, Spring 2025

BIOL 490R

Special Topics in Biology, Spring 2025

Presentations

Weidner, Lauren M (Presenter & Author), Morales, Chrisopher (Author Only), Jannuzzi, Bailey (Author Only), Perez Ortiz, Yeilee (Author Only), Meza, Gabrielle (Author Only), Meeds, Andrew (Author Only), Hjelmen, Carl (Author Only), Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, "What flies eat and excrete_ Insights from puke, poop, and gut contents of blow flies for wildlife and forensic applications", Portland, OR. (November 12, 2025)
Nielsen, Cyrus (Presenter & Author), Rotter, Michael (Author Only), Hjelmen, Carl (Author Only), Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Enhancing entomology education by creating online resources and upgrading a teaching collection", Portland, OR. (November 10, 2025)
Beck, Haylee (Presenter & Author), Jannuzzi, Bailey (Author Only), Weidner, Lauren M (Author Only), Hjelmen, Carl (Author Only), Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, "From city to canyon_ A survey of blow fly biodiversity across Utah ecoregions", Portland, OR. (November 10, 2025)
Jannuzzi, Bailey (Presenter & Author), Meeds, Andrew (Author Only), Weidner, Lauren M (Author Only), Hjelmen, Carl (Author Only), Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, "Optimizing bioinformatic pipelines for profiling blow fly diets", Portland, OR. (November 10, 2025)
Hjelmen, Carl , Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, " It's entomology, not etymology_ Activities to solidify students understanding of entomological terms.", Portland, OR. (November 9, 2025)
Hjelmen, Carl , Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology Fall Seminar Series, "Circling back with fresh eyes_ Rethinking genome evolution in a student-powered lab", Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma. (October 3, 2025)

Scholarly/Creative Works

Zahn, Geoffrey , Hjelmen, Carl , Wainwright, Benjamin J, (2025) "Distinct temporal trajectories of bacterial and fungal networks during agricultural rewilding" . Science of the Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180999
Motte, Remington , Hjelmen, Carl E, (2025) "DSCAM1 evolution and its relationship to sociality_ Hymenopteran DSCAM1 exhibits accelerated evolution in variable exon regions" . Insect Systematics and Diversity. https://doi.org/10.1093/isd/ixaf031
Oakes, Jonathan , Kuddus, Johrimam Noah, Downs, Easton , Oakey, Clark , Davis, Kristina , Mohammad, Laith , Whitely, Kiara , Hjelmen, Carl , Kuddus, Ruhul , (2025) "Isolation and Characterization of a Crude Oil-Tolerant Obligate Halophilic Bacterium from the Great Salt Lake of the United States of America" (vol. 13). Microorganisms. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms13071568
Motte, Remington , Hjelmen, Carl , (2025) "remingtonrimo/DSCAM-project: DSCAM1 project. " (vol. (Version 1.0.0)). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15311036
Zahn, Geoffrey , Hjelmen, Carl , (2025) "Phylogeny files for Palm Oil Recovery analyses [Dataset]. " (vol. (Version 1.0.0)). Zenodo.. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14708616
Copeland, Megan , Landa, Shelby , Owoyemi, Adekola Oluwatosin, Jonika, Michelle M, Alfieri, James M, Johnston, J. Spencer, Sylvester, Terrence Pradakshana, Kyre, Bethany R, Hoover, Zachary , Hjelmen, Carl , Rieski, Lynne K, Blackmon, Heath , Casola, Claudio , (2024) "Genome assembly of the southern pine beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmerman) reveals the origins of gene content reduction in Dendroctonus" (vol. 11). Royal Society Open Science. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240755

Awards

College of Science Dean's Distinguished Faculty - Scholarship Award

UVU College of Science - April 10, 2025