I am a Californian by root. I was born and raised in California and completed my
undergraduate education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in Environmental
Studies (B.A.) and Computer Science (B.S.). I am an Oregonian and Floridian by shoot.
I grew academically by completing my Ph.D. at Oregon State University and my post-doctoral
work at the University of Florida. My graduate and post-doctoral work gave me the
great privilege to travel and conduct research internationally. I have worked with
colleagues in Japan, China, Taiwan, Mexico, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and all over
the United States of America. My primary tools are molecular genetic analyses and
I am broadly interested in the systematics, evolutionary biology and ecology of Kingdom
Fungi as well as mutualistic relationships between fungi and plants. Specifically,
I am fascinated by ectomycorrhizal (ECM) symbioses and their influence upon plant
establishment, forest community structure, and ecosystem stability. My training in
computer science expands the breadth of my research by enabling me to incorporate
computational methods of data analysis and data processing. Research in my laboratory
works with nucleic acid sequence data from the level of individual genes to whole
genome and transcriptome analysis.Recently, my lab has begun to expand into the study
of fungal secondary chemistry and the production of novel antibiotic compounds by
Kingdom Fungi.
- Mycology and evolutionary biology of mycorrhizal symbioses
- Systematics, taxonomy, ecology, phylogeography, and evolution of Kingdom Fungi
- Phylogenomics/phylogenetics, metabarcoding, metagenomics, comparative genomics, transcriptomics,
and bioinformatics
- Fungal secondary chemistry and novel antibiotic discovery
