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Roxana Alveo
advisor(s): Chris Smith-Martin
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Plant physiology, plant ecophysiology, wood anatomy, plant reproduction and pollen morphology
study system: tropic forests
Elena Ayala
advisor(s): Jeff Gralnick
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests: Anaerobic microbiology, archaea, extremophiles, microbial genetics
study system: Thermoanaerobacter pseudethanolicus
Daniel Bacher
advisor(s): Jerry Cohen and Adrian Hegeman
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests: Plant cell and molecular biology, metabolomics and proteomics, enzymology
study system: maize and arabidopsis
Aiym Bakytbaikyzy
advisor(s): Jonathan Schilling
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests: Fungal and bacterial ecology in decaying wood
study system: Fomitopsis betulina brown rot fungus decaying birch
Parikha Banga
advisor(s): Jannell Bazurto
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests:
study system: Methylorubrum extorquens
Anubhav Basu
advisor(s): Cari Vanderpool
first semester in PMB: fall 2021
research interests:
study system:
Adity Biswas
advisor(s): Katie Fixen
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests: My research interest is in environmental microbiology. I am currently working on introducing plant proteins, such as ferredoxin, into our chassis bacterium to power nitrogenase and test its nitrogen fixation ability. Additionally, I am involved in engineering plant ferredoxin to optimize the electron transfer pathway to nitrogenase.
study system: Rhodopseudomonas palustris
Reid Brown
advisor(s): Jim Cotner
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests: Understanding drivers of greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater sources
study system: temperate lakes
Anahi Cantoran
advisor(s): Peter Kennedy
first semester in PMB: fall 2021
research interests: Anything microbial ecology! My research focuses on understanding how climate change alters the community composition and function of bacteria and fungi that decompose dead fungal biomass in forests and how bacterial dynamics change across differing plant species in agricultural systems
study system: microbes, soil, and plants
Christos Charakas
advisor(s): Devanshi Khokhani and Adrian Hegeman
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests: How arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) interact with plant-hosts, and soil bacteria to improve sustainability in agriculture.
study system: AMF, Zea mays, Azotobacter vinelandii tripartite interactions
Hunter Cobbley
advisor(s): Cari Vanderpool
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests:
study system:
Sara Endejan
advisor(s): Dan Voytas
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests: Plant gene editing tool development and optimization
study system: Assorted monocot and dicot species
Simon Fronmueller
advisor(s): Mike Travisano
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests:
study system:
Shengsong Guo
advisor(s): Feng Zhang
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests: precise genome editing, DNA repair, bioinformatics
study system: Arabidopsis and crops
Chris Hansen
advisor(s): Trinity Hamilton
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests: Environmental microbiology, astrobiology, biogeochemistry
study system: Glaciers and ice sheets (Greenland)
Emily Hanson
advisor(s): Kyle Costa
first semester in PMB: fall 2021
research interests: Biofilm formation and iron corrosion by methanogenic archaea
study system: Methanococcus maripaludis
Aidan Harrington
advisor(s): Dave Moeller
first semester in PMB: fall 2021
research interests: Evolutionary ecology and biogeography of polyploidy and genome size
study system: Clarkia rhomboidea
Adelaide Hazen
advisor(s): Katie Greenham and Andy Read
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests: circadian regulation in plants and plant-microbe interactions
study system:
Caleb Hill
advisor(s): Will Harcombe
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Microbial ecology and evolution, host-microbial interactions, predictive modeling and rational design/management of microbial ecosystems, complexity and cross-scale interactions in biological systems, phages
study system:
Erica Houser
advisor(s): Rebecca Montgomery and Peter Kennedy
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests: mycorrhizal ecology of oaks, oak wilt disturbance ecology
study system: Quercus
Ursula Humayun
advisor(s): Daniel Bond
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests: Molecular mechanisms of metal reduction in bacteria
study system: Geobacter sulfurreducens
Derek Hunsaker
advisor(s): Shaun Curtin and Feng Zhang
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests: Gene editing and crop improvement
study system: soybean
Uhunwa Igho-Osagie
advisor(s): Ya Yang
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests: plant systematics, phylogenetics, taxonomy, herbarium curation and biodiversity conservation
study system: Euphorbiaceae
Inyoo Kim
advisor(s): Dave Moeller
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Invasive species distribution, satellite image detection, system dynamics
study system:
Jacob Kunkel
advisor(s): Clay Carter
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests:
study system:
Viviana Londoño
advisor(s): Jennifer Powers
first semester in PMB: fall 2021
research interests: seed ecology, seedlings ecology, natural regeneration, tropical dry forests
study system: tropical dry forests
Raine MacArthur-Waltz
advisor(s): Yaniv Brandvain and Dave Moeller
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Plant speciation, mating system evolution and the role of genome level characteristics in speciation
study system: Clarkia
Evin Magner
advisor(s): Clay Carter
first semester in PMB: fall 2020
research interests: nectar, plant biochemistry, and plant-pollinator interactions
study system:
Claire Menard
advisor(s): Candice Hirsch
first semester in PMB: fall 2020
research interests: Transposable elements, genomics
study system: maize
Erik Myers
advisor(s): Dan Voytas
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests:
study system:
Achala Narayanan
advisor(s): Peter Kennedy
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests:
study system:
Samantha Pelletier
advisor(s): Katie Greenham
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests: metabolic flux between primary and specialized metabolism
study system: Brassicaceae
Leah Pendl-Robinson
advisor(s): Trinity Hamilton
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Snow/Ice algae
study system:
Alejandra Pérez-Enriquez
advisor(s): Jennifer Powers
first semester in PMB: fall 2023
research interests: I am interested in understanding how plants respond to their environment, its changes and possible outcomes. My aim is to apply this knowledge to ecological restoration through participatory processes. I am passionate about illustration and sharing science with anyone who want any fun fact about plants
study system: Tropical dry and wet forest
Zacc Ramm
advisor(s): Ya Yang
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests:
study system:
Andrés Rojas-González
advisor(s): Chris Smith-Martin
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Intraspecific variation in tree physiology
study system: boreal and broadleaf forest
Brandon Schmidt
advisor(s):
first semester in PMB: fall 2024
research interests:
study system:
Isabel Smalley
advisor(s): George Weiblen
first semester in PMB: fall 2025
research interests: Evolutionary biology, introgression, and diversity in a population
study system: Ferns and Cannabis
Abraham Steinberger
advisor(s): Dan Voytas
first semester in PMB: fall 2022
research interests: molecular genetics and gene editing of plants
study system: Benthe, rice
Clair Wootan
advisor(s): Nathan Springer and Feng Zhang
first semester in PMB: fall 2021
research interests:
study system: