Research

How are long-lived trees adapted to environmental variation across their distributions, and what are the implications for responses to 21st Century environmental change? 

Interbreeding among species (hybridization) is an important mechanism for evolution in many plant taxa, especially oaks (Quercus). Genomic approaches are offering unprecedented insight into the consequences of hybridization.

Genomic data can provide useful insights for how to best manage species and restore healthy populations. I collaborate on applying conservation genomic tools to Acacia koa in Hawaii and various species of eastern North American bats that are suffering from human impacts.

Trees may be especially vulnerable to rapid environmental change, thus I am interested in exploring, non-genetic mechanisms that may allow short-term responses. 

Periods of past climate change offer us opportunities to investigate actual responses of organisms that can inform predictions of future responses. I integrate complementary approaches from paleoecology, genetics, and species distribution modeling. 

In past research, I analyzed single-cell RNA-Seq and ATAC-Seq data as part of a diabetes research group at NYU Langone.