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Olsen Lab Alumni



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Matthew Austin
Postdoctoral Fellow

Matthew was a postdoc with the Living Earth Collaborative studying how climate-induced flowering phenology shifts impact interspecific pollen transfer and the evolution of mating systems. Matthew is broadly interested in how pollination systems respond to environmental variability and graduated from the University of Missouri—Saint Louis. He is now at the Missouri Botanical Garden
maustin [at] mobot.org

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Jordan Brock
PhD Student
My interest is in understanding crop domestication and  the role of polyploidy in many of our crops. I'm currently investigating the genetic basis of adaptation in wild relatives of the biofuel crop and flax mimic, Camelina sativa. Jordan is now an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Michigan State University.
Brockjor(at)msu(dot)edu

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Emma Frawley
PhD Student
I'm broadly interested in plant domestication and natural variation in crop wild relatives. Currently my research is focused on domestication and evolution little barley, a grass once used for subsistence by Indigenous communities in North America. The cultivated forms of little barley no longer exist, and it has since been dubbed a "lost crop." Emma is now a Research and Grants Associate at Erol Foundation.

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Linda Small
Lab Technician
Linda was our lead technician. She works on several different research projects, trains new lab members, and basically keeps the lab running. Linda is now retired

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David Goad
PhD Candidate
I am interested in using population genomics and quantitative genetics to understand the evolution of interesting traits in wild species. For my thesis, I am investigating the evolution of salt-tolerance in the halophytic turf grass seashore paspalum by utilizing genome-wide SNP markers and tissue ion concentrations obtained from a diverse panel of turf cultivars and wild samples. In addition to my thesis project I am involved in mapping disease resistance QTLs in rice and using bioinformatics techniques to study the CLE gene family. David is now a bioinformatician at TinyHealth in St. Louis
Website: http://davidmgoad.com

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Yu Feng
Visiting PhD Student
I'm interested in genome evolution and population genetics of the Tertiary relict genus Dipteronia. Using whole genome sequencing data, I'm investigating the pupulation structure, historical change of population size, and the mutation load of endangered species (D. dyeriana) and it's widely distributed relatives (D. sinensis and Acer species).

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Yongxia Cui
Visiting Ph.D. Student
I am interested in the phenotypic characteristics of plants, which relate to plant evolution and adaptation.

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Wei-min Dai
Visiting Scholar
My research interests focus on the genetic evolution of weed species in agricultural ecosystems using weedy rice and transgenic rice as models. My current work includes adaptive genes and whole genome sequence  analysis of weedy rice.


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Briana L. Gross
Postdoctoral Associate
Briana Gross is now an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota - Duluth.


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Pu Huang
Ph.D. Student
Pu Huang is currently a postdoc at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.


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Muhammad Abid Khan
Visiting Ph.D. Student
My research interests include evolution and anthropogenic selection of various candidate genes in cultivated rice. Currently I’m working on the origin and the patterns of domestication of fragrance genes in rice.


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Nic Kooyers
Ph.D. Student
Nic Kooyers is now an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.


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Lin-Feng Li
Research Scientist
My primary research interest concerns the genetic basis of evolution in plants. Much of this work focuses on the origin and domestication of crops (e.g., banana, rice and ginseng) and adaptive speciation of columbine. My current work includes a large-scale search for associations of genetic/epigenetic variations at candidate genes with phenotypic traits.


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Xinshuai Qi
Postdoctoral Associate
Xinshuai Qi is now a postdoc at the University of Arizona in Michael Barker's lab.



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Cynthia Vigueira
Postdoctoral Associate
Cindy Vigueira is now an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department of High Point University.


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Kate Waselkov
Ph.D. Student
Kate Waselkov is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at California State University, Fresno.

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Sara J. Wright
Ph.D. Student
Sara Wright is now a Lecturer in Biological Sciences at Rowan University. More information can be found on her personal website:
www.sarajwright.com

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Daniel Cui Zhou
Undergraduate Student
I'm a senior at Wash U. still deciding which area of Biology interests me the most. I currently enjoy anything related to genetics and evolution.
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  • Research Projects
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