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 |
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 |
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. |
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 |
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). |
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. |
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 |