Biodiversity informatics of plants and fungi
Ph.D. research: Predicting plant-fungal links with DNA and data mining
I am a PhD candidate in the Botany Dept at University of British Columbia Biodiversity Research Centre, co-supervised by T. Jonathan Davies and Quentin C.B. Cronk. I am currently interested in developing and applying computational tools to study the diversity of fungal endophytes and pathogens, their plant host breadth, and their role in non-native plant colonization.
Papers
First author publications:
- Fungal endophytes can modulate plant invasion (Biological Reviews, 2024)
- Teknonaturalist: A Snakemake Pipeline for Assessing Fungal Diversity From Plant Genome Bycatch (Molecular Ecology Resources, 2024)
Not first author:
- Leveraging machine learning and citizen science data to describe flowering phenology across South Africa (Plants, People, Planet, 2025)
In prep:
- The Fungi on Living Plant Tissue database (for submission to Global Ecology and Biogeography)
M.Sc. research: Population genetics and phylogeography of rare sedges
At the University of Colorado Denver, I conducted population genomic research on Carex scirpoidea subsp. convoluta and subsp. scirpoidea with my supervisor Leo P. Bruederle and Christopher S. Miller.
Papers
First author publication:
- High genomic diversity maintained by populations of Carex scirpoidea subsp. convoluta, a paraphyletic Great Lakes ecotype (Conservation Genetics, 2021)
Not first author:
- Carex scirpoidea (Cyperaceae) in Wisconsin—Now you see it… (The Journal of the Torrey Society, 2024)
In prep:
- Soil niche characterization of Carex scirpoidea subsp. convoluta and subsp. scirpoidea (for submission to Botany)
Other activities
I work with the UBC BotZoo Wellness Initiative to promote mental and physical well-being among graduate students. 