I am a PhD candidate in the Plant Biology Department and Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station. I work in the labs of Kadeem Gilbert (Michigan State University) and Marjorie Weber (University of Michigan). I am broadly interested in evolutionary ecology and leverage plant-insect interactions as a diverse and highly replicable group of organismal interactions to ask questions about functional traits, plant-insect signaling, ecological pleiotropy and plant defense. My approach to science starts from natural history and incorporates manipulative field experiments, insect behavior and vision, molecular approaches, and biogeographic and cross-species comparisons to gain a comprehensive understanding of plant traits, their ecological functions, and how they arise and are maintained.
Photocredit: Lisa Coons