Alumni
Many people have helped make the lab a fun and productive place to work.
Lab Managers
Mary Sklaney
Lab Manager
2007-2009
Mary used microsatellite markers to assess paternity in yuccas. She also helped extensively with several field experiments at the Archbold Biological Station.
Brad Cunningham
Field Specialist
2006
Brad helped direct a large field project aimed at understanding how a complex community of insects influences mutualism between yuccas and yucca moths.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Shengpei Wang
Postdoctoral Associate
2020-2021
Sheng created a simulation for our yeast mutualism projects and used our experimental system to test how mutualists evolve into cheaters. She is now a data engineer at Fraym.
Mayra Vidal
Postdoctoral Associate
2018-2021
Mayra tested how species richness affects the persistence of multispecies mutualisms. She also studied coevolution in mutualism. Mayra is a professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Kelsey Glennon
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow in Biology
2010-2012
Kelsey tested whether plant polyploidy leads to niche divergence using ecological niche modeling. She is a senior lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand.
Bin Zhu
Postdoctoral Associate
2006
Bin helped us start a project on understanding how plant polyploidy influences tri-trophic interactions. Bin is now a professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Hartford.
Graduate Students
Thomas Anneberg
2015-2020
Thomas tested how whole genome duplication in plants affects nutrient limitation, stress responses, and their interactions with belowground mutualisms. He is currently a postdoc working with Tia-Lynn Ashman at the University of Pittsburgh.
Laura Porturas
2015-2018
Laura examined how neopolyploidy impacts multiple modes of reproductive isolation in red clover. She is now an assistant curator of the entomology collection at PennState.
Elijah Carter
2010-2011
Elijah started a project on the evolutionary ecology of mutualism before he switched gears to science education research.
Rebecca Ruppel
2007-2010
Becky studied patterns of inheritance in polyploid plants.
Wei Xiao
2007-2010
Wei’s Masters degree examined how florivorous insects impact female reproductive success in Yucca filamentosa.
Honors Research Students
Sabastine Udeme
2018-2019
Sabastine studied how plant polyploidy impacts plant resistance to pathogens.
Maizy Ludden
2015-2017
Maizy examined flowering and fruiting in serviceberry. She also was a significant help with our ongoing projects on yuccas and yucca moths.
Pristine Mei
2013-2016
Pristine tested the role of competition in allowing mutualists and exploiters to coexist. She received the Donald Lundgren Memorial Award for her research efforts.
Margo Malone
2014-2016
Margo examined how nutritional content of carrots change when they interact with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.
Yanina Tovpeko
2010-2011
Yana helped us with a microsatellite analysis of Yucca filamentosa.
Mylenne Salinas
2008-2010
My examined how female choice can impact offspring quality in a monoecious plant.
Megan Larson
2007-2009
Megan determined the geographic distribution of polyploidy in Heuchera cylindrica. In addition to presenting her research at the Biology Undergraduate Research Conference, she was also awarded a Norma Slepecky Award for excellence in undergraduate research.
Research Assistants
Shubham Chopade
2021-2022
Shubham helped us to adapt our mutualism simulation for an educational outreach project. He completed the backend programming for a webpage that will host the simulation.
Ryan Wagner
2021
Ryan helped us to adapt our mutualism simulation for an educational outreach project. He set up the initial backend programming for a webpage that will host the simulation.
Lexi Pyke
2021
Lexi spent the summer helping us collect data on plant-insect interactions and also assisted with Thomas’ studies of the synthetic yeast mutualism.
Michelle Eubank
2018-2019
Michelle helped Anne collect data on tests of how whole genome duplication impacts interactions with herbivores. She also assisted Thomas Anneberg with his work on neopolyploidy and nutrient limitation in plants.
Leia Correa
2017-2019
While at SU, Leia studied physical therapy and exercise science. She helped us extensively with our greenhouse projects that examined how whole genome duplication affects interactions with other species.
Mohit Gupta
2018-2019
Mohit was a MS student in computer science who helped us build our access database for our experiments with the synthetic yeast system.
Bailey Powers
2017-2019
Bailey helped us collect data on how neopolyploidy impacts plant-insect interactions.
Izmailia Sougoufara
2017-2019
Izzy helped us with our project on the synthetic yeast mutualism.
Harold Munnings III
2013-2014
Harry tested the idea that moths feeding on different plant species may be differentiating into new species. He used microsatellites and population genetics tools.
Alison Agresta
2011-2013
Alison helped with a number of projects from determining paternity in Yucca filamentosa to studies of mutualism in yeast.
Anna Conrad
2009-2010
Anna examined how mycorrhizal colonization of the plant Palafoxia feayi is affected by burn frequency. Her paper on this work is now published in the journal Mycorrhiza.
Nathan Schwarting
2008-2010
Nathan tested whether brown and green anoles differ in density with respect to urbanization of the landscape. Nathan also played a key role in developing teaching materials for our educational outreach program for 3rd-5th grade students.
Kendra Tatusko
Ruth Meyer Scholar, McNair Scholar
2006-2010
Kendra completed her biology distinction thesis on a phylogeographic analysis of Yucca filamentosa. She is now a genetic counselor.
Takisa McCrae
NSF Diversity Fellow
2007-2009
Kisha studied the repeatability of AFLP banding patterns and how this may influence phylogenetic analyses.
Andy Johncox
2008
Andy worked on a research project comparing the abundance and diversity of parasitoids on anthropogenically disturbed and undisturbed plots of Palafoxia feayi, an endemic scrub plant.
Sarah Sumoski
2008
Sarah played an integral role in a study of the fitness effects of herbivory by leaf-footed bugs. She also conducted an independent project that examined how urbanization influenced parasitoid abundance inPalafoxia galls. Her project on Palafoxia was published in the Florida Entomologist.
Kaylan Petrie
2007-2008
Kaylan worked on a project aimed at understanding the invasion history of a moth that was introduced to the United States.
Kristina Leedham
2006-2007
Kristina worked on a DNA barcoding project. She used DNA sequence data to determine the species identity of parasitoid wasps that can not be identified with morphological characters.
David Kelley
2006
Dave blessed us with a computer program that electronically conducts the laboratory procedure AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism). We’ve used this program to test the utility of AFLP markers in phylogenetic analysis.
Sonaz Safari
2006
Sonaz worked on a project aimed at understanding whether variation in seed weight influences seed fitness. She conducted a germination study on two species of yucca to determine whether seed weight correlates with germination success.
Lab Attendants
Noel Romero
2010-2012
Noel helped collect a large dataset on polyploid plant distributions and is a whiz at ArcGIS.
Priscilla Saint-Laurent
2006-2008
Priscilla helped us to assess the presence of mycorrhizae in plant roots, and also assisted with a project that examined the fitness impacts of yucca moth larval feeding on yuccas throughout the eastern United States.
Elizabeth Nagle
2006
Elizabeth helped us with a number of projects in the lab before moving on to study biochemistry.
Azuka Onye
2006
Azuka helped us to identify polymorphic microsatellite markers. We used an EST database to develop the primers for the initial screen that Azuka was involved in.
High School Research Students
Tal Frieden
2013-2015
Tal examined how evolution affected the persistence of cheaters in mutualism. He also published a study in the journal Evolutionary Ecology on host associated divergence in moths. Tal is now attending Brown University.
Hannah Lukow
2012-2013
Hannah studied the evolution of mutualism in yeast. She is now attending Davidson College.
Sarah Kirkpatrick
2013
Sarah helped with a number of projects and primarily focused on field biology.
Visitors
Jason Koontz
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Augustana College
Jason is interested in conservation genetics, hybrid speciation, phylogenetics, and polyploidy. We’re collaborating on a project aimed at understanding the hybrid origin of the larkspur Delphinium gypsophilum. Visit Jason’s website.
Todd Linscott
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Blackhawk College
Todd is broadly interested in conservation genetics and is working on several projects involving rare plants and animals.
Steve Heard
Professor, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick
Steve is broadly interested in evolutionary ecology and has conducted research on the shapes of phylogenetic trees, examined the ecology of pitcher plants and their associated insects, and is studying host associated genetic differentiation in a suite of herbivores that feed on goldenrods.
Chris Kolaczan
Graduate student, Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick
Chris examined patterns of genetic structure in a parasitoid wasp that attacks an herbivore of goldenrods. The hosts of this parasitoid have differentiated according to the goldenrod species that they feed on, and Chris determined whether the parasitoids also reflect this differentiation. This work was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
In Memoriam
Zoe
Canine Field Assistant
2002-2015
Zoe extirpated voles from our garden plots and loved to spend time baking in the Florida sun.
Max
Canine Field Assistant
1997-2014
Max enjoyed chasing deer from field sites and keeping an eye on our field crew.