Former Lab Members

Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson

Undergraduate Student
Mike is a senior and will be starting dental school next fall in San Antonio. Mike has worked on a variety of projects involving Arabidopsis quantitative genetics, including common garden studies of drought and freezing tolerance. A major component of his work has been the development of the “electrolyte leakage test” as a method for characterizing freezing damage. Mike’s undergraduate research has been supported by an Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the college of Natural Sciences.

Tina

Tina Arredondo

Technician

ResearchGate

Tina is a research technician stationed at the USDA-ARS Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory in Temple, TX. She helps manage data collection and Read moreabout Tina Arredondo

Mike Aspinwall

Mike Aspinwall

Assistant Professor at University of North Florida

Former Post-Doctoral Researcher

website

Sandra Boles

Sandra Boles

Lab Technician

Sandy is the lab manager and jill-of-all-trades. She heads up much of the microsatellite and CAPs genotyping, marker development, sequencing, and projectRead moreabout Sandra Boles

Melissa Brady

Melissa Brady

Undergraduate Student

Melissa is an undergraduate in the lab helping on a variety of molecular projects. She has been learning basic genotyping skills and will work on markerRead moreabout Melissa Brady

Dale Butler

Dale Butler

Undergraduate Student

Dale is a senior and will be starting a stint with the Peace Corp this coming summer. He has collaborated with Walter Shuham in the development of IpomopsisRead moreabout Dale Butler

Brandon Campitelli

Brandon Campitelli

Assistant Professor of Instruction, STEM Instructional Consultant and Experiential Learning Coordinator working in TIDES, University of Texas at Austin

Former Postdoc in lab

website

My research interests broadly center around understanding the impacts of the abiotic and biotic environment on plant function, growth/yield, physiologyRead moreabout Brandon Campitelli

Matt

Matthew Carey

Former Technician, now a graduate student at MSU

Linkedin

“I love plants!”

Nicole Carrabba

Nicole Carrabba

Undergraduate researcher/FRI mentor

Weile Chen

Weile Chen

Former Postdoctoral Fellow, now a Researcher in Zhejiang University, China

Google scholar

My research interests center around the biological process governed by plant roots and the symbiotic microbiomes across diverse plant species. In theRead moreabout Weile Chen

Jonathan Colen

Jonathan Colen

Technician

Jonathan is a research technician stationed out of the USDA center in Temple, Texas who helps manage the ongoing field and greenhouse experiments. He hasRead moreabout Jonathan Colen

Lizard on Matt's back

Matthew Donahue

Former Lab Technician

Matt is a field technician who oversees many of our operations at one of our main field sites – Brackenridge Field Laboratory. Read moreabout Matthew Donahue

Joe

Joseph Edwards

Post-Doctoral Researcher

google scholar

I am interested in plant-microbe interactions with a particular focus on the root microbiomes of grass species. Currently, I am using both forward and reverse Read moreabout Joseph Edwards

Sam Faries

Sam Faries

Technician

I am primarily working on the climate adaptation and sustainability in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) project for the Juenger Lab. My focus will be toRead moreabout Sam Faries

bhaskaraG

Bhaskara Govinal Badiger

Research Associate

google scholar

ResearchGate

My research interests focus on drought signaling and responses in plants. During my Ph.D. and postdoctoral research, I worked on Arabidopsis Type 2CRead moreabout Bhaskara Govinal Badiger

Taslima

Taslima Haque

Graduate Student

I am broadly interested to study ecological and evolutionary drivers for adaptive evolution in natural population. Currently, I am working on Read moreabout Taslima Haque

Robert Heckman

Robert Heckman

Postdoctoral Fellow

google scholar

Jacob Heiling

Jacob Heiling

Undergraduate Student

I worked in the Juenger Lab for about two years, starting as an REU student and later becoming a greenhouse and field tech. I focused on the ecologicalRead moreabout Jacob Heiling

Michael Heimbuch

Michael Heimbuch

Technician

Mike is a technician at the USDA ARS Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory in Temple, Texas. He is broadly interested in research methods andRead moreabout Michael Heimbuch

Tina Helseth

Tina Helseth

Technician

I am a technician in Lincoln and I work in the field and in the lab. I focus on NIRS of all samples. In my down-time, I enjoy archery, traveling, andRead moreabout Tina Helseth

Kyle Hernandez

Kyle Hernandez

Research Assistant Professor & Bioinformatics Manager, Center for Research Informatics, University of Chicago

Former Post-Doctoral Researcher

In general, my research interests include the evolution of genotype-by-environment interactions and data analysis. My work in the Juenger lab focuses onRead moreabout Kyle Hernandez

Quinn Hiers

Quinn Hiers

Technician

Sadia Islam

Sadia Islam

Summer REU

I am undergraduate at University of Massachusetts Amherst and I am working at the Juenger Lab for Summer REU Program. I am majoring in biochemistry andRead moreabout Sadia Islam

Grace

Grace John

Former Post-doc, started her lab at University of Florida from Fall, 2019.

I’m Grace John, a postdoctoral research in the Juenger lab at UT Austin. I am a plant ecophysiologist specializing in functional anatomy studyingRead moreabout Grace John

Amanda Kenney

Amanda Kenney

Graduate Student

Amanda graduated from the EEB program 2012. Her dissertation focused on the genetics of water use effeciency primarily in Ipomopsis aggregata.  AmandaRead moreabout Amanda Kenney

Krushnamegh Kunte

Krushnamegh Kunte

Graduate Student

Krushnamegh is a graduate student with primary interests in evolution and ecology. He has studied patterns of butterfly diversity, mating systems of frogs,Read moreabout Krushnamegh Kunte

Adrienne Loftus

Adrienne Loftus

Former Summer REU

Adrienne Loftus is a third-year Environmental Science major from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently an FRI peer mentor. She has workedRead moreabout Adrienne Loftus

Tierney Logan

Tierney Logan

Lab Technician

I joined the Juenger lab in the fall of 2004, with a background primarily in genotyping human cancer genes at the Stanford Genome Technology Center.  IRead moreabout Tierney Logan

John Lovell

John Lovell

Computational Biologist at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology

Former Postdoc in lab

Linkedin

Website

Google scholar

The evolutionary fate of species rests entirely on their potential to adapt to novel or stressful environmental conditions. While a small minority ofRead moreabout John Lovell

Lowry

David Lowry

Assistant Professor at Michigan State University

Former Post-Doctoral Researcher

website

Sam Lutfy

Sam Lutfy

Sam is stationed at the Kingsville, TX site.Read moreabout Sam Lutfy

Alice MacQueen

Alice MacQueen

Research Affiliate – Postdoctoral

google scholar

Alice is fascinated by the molecular effects of strong selection acting on organisms, particularly plants. After completing a Ph.D. in Ecology andRead moreabout Alice MacQueen

David Des Marias

David Des Marias

Assistant Professor at MIT

Former Post-Doctoral Researcher

Most of my work in the Juenger lab deals with the molecular evolutionary genetics of plant ecophysiology. The primary goal of my research program is toRead moreabout David Des Marias

John Mathews

John Mathews

Graduate Student

John is a graduate student in the EEB program. John is interested in using molecular markers to study population structure, gene flow, and migration inRead moreabout John Mathews

Lindsey Mayer

Lindsey Mayer

Technician

My current role in the Juenger lab is to provide research support for studies of switchgrass ecology, evolution and genetics. My background andRead moreabout Lindsey Mayer

Heather McGray

Heather McGray

Post-Doctoral Researcher

I am interested in examining how the mechanisms that contribute to biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships shift across levels of ecologicalRead moreabout Heather McGray

Eli Meyer

Eli Meyer

Assistant Professor at Oregon State University

Former Post-Doctoral Researcher

Lab website

Broadly speaking, I’m interested in understanding the genetic and physiological basis of complex traits. I use high-throughput sequencing methods toRead moreabout Eli Meyer

Elizabeth Milano

Elizabeth Milano

Graduate Student

I am involved in two projects in the Juenger lab. My dissertation research focuses on floral variation and population divergence inRead moreabout Elizabeth Milano

Joe

Joe Napier

Postdoctoral Researcher

google scholar

Ryan Odum

Ryan Odum

Undergraduate Student

I am an undergraduate working to receive my Bachelor of Science in Biology and Teaching certification. My goal is to create teaching curriculum that can beRead moreabout Ryan Odum

Juan Diego Palacio-Mejia

Juan Diego Palacio-Mejia

Director, Centro de Investigación Tibaitatá Agrosavia , Colombia

Former Graduate Student

website

My main research interest is focused on the knowledge and use of the agobiodiversity, using biotechnology techniques for the improvement of crops. InRead moreabout Juan Diego Palacio-Mejia

Jelena Pantel

Jelena Pantel

Graduate Student

Jelena is interested in drawing parallels between current theories in ecology and evolution, with a focus on adaptive evolution and its effects on communityRead moreabout Jelena Pantel

Lauren Ragel

Lauren Ragel

Former Summer REU

My main research interest is utilizing biochemical methods to further expand research in genotypic plant traits resistant to the effects of climateRead moreabout Lauren Ragel

Samsad

Samsad Razzaque

Former PhD student, now a Postdoc at Salk Institute

I am interested in understanding adaptive differentiation in species, and how that impacts their life history strategies. I have been using quantitativeRead moreabout Samsad Razzaque

Peter Rispin

Peter Rispin

Undergraduate Student

Peter is a high school biology teacher taking a year off to obtain teaching certification and more thorough background training for his vocation. HisRead moreabout Peter Rispin

John Row

John Row

Having a lifelong interest in the natural world, John got his BS in General Biological Science (with an emphasis in natural history) at Fort LewisRead moreabout John Row

John Sanley

John Sanley

Technician

John is a technician who oversees fieldwork and data collection of the switchgrass garden at the Eastern Nebraska Research and Extension Center nearRead moreabout John Sanley

Madeline Schill

Madeline Schill

Former Summer REU

Madeline Schill is a rising Junior at the University of Texas at Austin studying Biology with a focus in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior.  She isRead moreabout Madeline Schill

Scott Schwartz

Scott Schwartz

Research Associate

After completing a PhD in a Bayesian oriented statistics program, Scott spent a year in a cancer nutrition lab working with genomic data. FromRead moreabout Scott Schwartz

Eugene Shakirov

Eugene Shakirov

Former Research Scientist, now an Assistant Professor in Marshall University, WV

google scholar

Because of its superior biological and genomic resources, Arabidopsis offers a unique opportunity for the analysis of natural variation. There is now anRead moreabout Eugene Shakirov

Justin Shih

Justin Shih

Technician

I work in both the molecular laboratory and the field. I assist post-docs, graduate students, and visiting collaborating scientists in completingRead moreabout Justin Shih

Angela Shiue

Angela Shiue

Undergraduate Student

Angela is an undergraduate working on fine-mapping QTL in Arabidopsis. She is using marker-assisted selection to rapidly produce nearly-isogenic lines.Read moreabout Angela Shiue

Walter Shuham

Walter Shuham

Undergraduate Student

Walter is a senior and is moving on to medical school next fall in Houston. Walter has worked on microsatellite development and studies of populationRead moreabout Walter Shuham

Logan Simon

Logan Simon

Technician

Logan is the technician overseeing the NSF 4WC switchgrass planting at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He has a BS in Plant SciencesRead moreabout Logan Simon

Scott Sofijczuk

Scott Sofijczuk

Undergraduate Student

Scott has been working on ecological and evolutionary studies of bluebonnets (Lupinus texensis) and their nitrogen fixing bacteria (Bradyrhizobium). InRead moreabout Scott Sofijczuk

Frank Stearns

Frank Stearns

Graduate Student

Frank is generally interested in the genetic mechanisms involved in speciation and reproductive isolation. For his M.S. he evaluated local adaptation andRead moreabout Frank Stearns

Vaughan Symonds

Vaughan Symonds

Lab Technician

Vaughan just finished his PhD in the Plant Biology program at UT in Alan Lloyd’s lab. His dissertation focused on the molecular basis of quantitative traitsRead moreabout Vaughan Symonds

Samuel Taylor

Samuel Taylor

Post-Doctoral Researcher

I am interested in plant function and its implications in ecology. My work has largely been focussed on the ecophysiology of C4 grasses, addressing the role Read more about Samuel Taylor

Kyle Turner

Maria Villalpando

Maria Villalpando

Undergraduate researcher/FRI mentor

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Tanya Vo

Tanya Vo

Lab Technician

Lisa Vormwald

Lisa Vormwald

Technician

Lisa is a technician who oversees field and lab work at the Kellogg Biological Station in Michigan. She has a MS in Wildlife Science and a certificate in Read more about Lisa Vormwald

Renhou

Renhou Wang

Research Associate

google scholar

Bethaney Watson

Bethaney Watson

Administrative Associate

Benjamin Wright

Benjamin Wright

Former Summer REU

Ben is a sophomore at Brigham Young University, studying Exercise and Wellness. He is planning on going to dental school after completing his Read morea bout Benjamin Wright

Richard Wynia

Richard Wynia

Research Affiliate – Sr. Research Fellow

USDA Plant Materials Center, Manhattan, KS

Rich Wynia was born and raised on a small family farm in south central South Dakota. His father’s only career advice was “Be anything, but don’t be a farmer Read more about Richard Wynia

Heather Yang

Heather Yang

Undergraduate researcher/FRI mentor

Jun

Jun Yin

Research Engineering / Scientist Assistant II

Jun assists in experiments on understanding Read moreabout Jun Yin

Li Zhang

Li Zhang

Postdoctoral Fellow

Li is interested in modeling genetic by environment interactions in plants. After completing a Ph.D in Crop Modelling at the University of Florida where Read more