Josiah Lavender grew up in Athens, Georgia, where his fascination with nature began early in life. At just six years old, inspired by his older brother, he started feeding and identifying birds in his parents' backyard. This childhood interest grew through middle and high school years, evolving into a deep interest in ornithology and ecology. In his junior year of high school, he attended a birding camp on Hog Island, Maine, where he was introduced to museum curation and learned how to prepare a Swainson's Thrush. This experience marked his first step into the world of biological museums.

As an undergraduate at the University of Georgia (UGA), Lavender collaborated with Dr. Clark Rushing, an avian ecologist specializing in the annual cycles of North American breeding birds. Under Dr. Rushing's guidance and with support from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, Lavender focused on the breeding ecology of Painted Buntings. Using statistical models and analyzing point-survey and location data he gathered on Little St. Simons Island, Lavender explored how unique habitats, like maritime grasslands, affect the population density of this declining songbird. This research allowed him to merge his passion for bird ecology with his interest in computational approaches to studying natural processes. Lavender completed his studies at UGA with a B.S. in Ecology and a minor in mathematics.

As a Ph.D. student, Lavender's research interests focus on understanding the impacts of climate change on migratory birds, emphasizing the role of evolutionary adaptation in helping birds cope with warming temperatures. This research will analyze genetic samples housed in the Museum of Southwestern Biology (MSB) at the University of New Mexico (UNM) and potentially morphological data from specimens in the MSB.

Lavender hopes to collaborate with members of the Andersen Lab at UNM, whose work emphasizes biographical patterns of species divergence and who have extensive experience working with museum specimens. Lavender also hopes to collaborate with Helen Wearing, who works in the Department of Biology and Mathematics & Statistics, whose research emphasizes using computational methods to answer questions in biology and ecology.