Dr. Jason Holliday
Virginia Tech
Jason is a population geneticist with a focus on understanding how past population dynamics shape contemporary genetic variation in forest tree species. He completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia, where he worked on demographic history and local adaptation in Sitka spruce. Since moving to Virginia Tech, Jason has primarily focused on population genomics of adaptation in cottonwoods, and on using genomics to advance restoration of the American chestnut
Virginia Tech
Jason is a population geneticist with a focus on understanding how past population dynamics shape contemporary genetic variation in forest tree species. He completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia, where he worked on demographic history and local adaptation in Sitka spruce. Since moving to Virginia Tech, Jason has primarily focused on population genomics of adaptation in cottonwoods, and on using genomics to advance restoration of the American chestnut
Dr. Jill Hamilton
Pennsylvania State University
Jill is a plant evolutionary geneticist focused on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to local adaptation within natural and managed plant populations, with an emphasis on adaptive introgression in the context of a changing climate. Jill's research program combines population, landscape, and functional genomics with environmental data, and quantitative experiments to understand the genetic basis of traits important to adaptation to climate, climate-related stresses, and disease in a range of systems.
Pennsylvania State University
Jill is a plant evolutionary geneticist focused on understanding the mechanisms that contribute to local adaptation within natural and managed plant populations, with an emphasis on adaptive introgression in the context of a changing climate. Jill's research program combines population, landscape, and functional genomics with environmental data, and quantitative experiments to understand the genetic basis of traits important to adaptation to climate, climate-related stresses, and disease in a range of systems.
Dr. Stephen Keller
University of Vermont
Steve's research focuses on identifying adaptive variation in the genomes of forest trees, and using a combination of experimental studies and statistical modeling to understand how this variation has been shaped by past changes in climate and what this means for future responses. Steve has been working with poplars for over 10 years, and finds them especially valuable for this work because of their compact genome (for a tree!), their ease of propagation, and their huge amount of variation in climate-adaptive traits, especially phenology.
University of Vermont
Steve's research focuses on identifying adaptive variation in the genomes of forest trees, and using a combination of experimental studies and statistical modeling to understand how this variation has been shaped by past changes in climate and what this means for future responses. Steve has been working with poplars for over 10 years, and finds them especially valuable for this work because of their compact genome (for a tree!), their ease of propagation, and their huge amount of variation in climate-adaptive traits, especially phenology.
Dr. Matt Fitzpatrick
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Matt is interested in understanding and predicting geographic patterns of biodiversity - from genomes to species assemblages across the globe and from the late Quaternary to the next century. His current research emphasizes the development and application of new spatial modeling methods for characterizing associations between genomic variation and environmental gradients in forest trees and the use of these methods for informing climate change vulnerability assessments.
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Matt is interested in understanding and predicting geographic patterns of biodiversity - from genomes to species assemblages across the globe and from the late Quaternary to the next century. His current research emphasizes the development and application of new spatial modeling methods for characterizing associations between genomic variation and environmental gradients in forest trees and the use of these methods for informing climate change vulnerability assessments.
Baxter Worthing, PhD Student
Department of Plant Biology, University of Vermont
Baxter seeks to explain how trees sense and react to major shifts in their surrounding environments, such as the onset of drought or the changing of seasons. He uses genetics and genomics to test if there are genetic differences between poplar populations that may help explain differences in the way they interpret environmental signals. Ultimately, he hopes that a better understanding of the relationship between trees, their genes, and the surrounding environment will improve predictions of how climate change will affect forest health.
Department of Plant Biology, University of Vermont
Baxter seeks to explain how trees sense and react to major shifts in their surrounding environments, such as the onset of drought or the changing of seasons. He uses genetics and genomics to test if there are genetic differences between poplar populations that may help explain differences in the way they interpret environmental signals. Ultimately, he hopes that a better understanding of the relationship between trees, their genes, and the surrounding environment will improve predictions of how climate change will affect forest health.
Michelle Zavala Páez, PhD Student
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Pennsylvania State University
Michelle received her Bachelor's degree in Biology at the Universidad Central del Ecuador, then moved to Brazil to complete her MS in Ecology and Conservation at Federal University of Parana, where she worked in evolutionary and comparative genomics. Now she is joining the Hamilton lab and is excited to learn about ecology and landscape genomics as part of the Poplar project.
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Pennsylvania State University
Michelle received her Bachelor's degree in Biology at the Universidad Central del Ecuador, then moved to Brazil to complete her MS in Ecology and Conservation at Federal University of Parana, where she worked in evolutionary and comparative genomics. Now she is joining the Hamilton lab and is excited to learn about ecology and landscape genomics as part of the Poplar project.
Tommy Phannareth, PhD Student
Translational Plant Sciences, Virginia Tech
Tommy is a member of the Holliday lab, and is interested in efficient and comprehensive methods for analyzing plant 'omics data. Before coming to Virginia Tech he worked at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - Beltsville lab developing molecular diagnostics for bacterial plant pathogens.
Translational Plant Sciences, Virginia Tech
Tommy is a member of the Holliday lab, and is interested in efficient and comprehensive methods for analyzing plant 'omics data. Before coming to Virginia Tech he worked at the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service - Beltsville lab developing molecular diagnostics for bacterial plant pathogens.
Dr. Connie Bolte, Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Pennsylvania State University
Connie did her Ph.D. work at Virginia Commonwealth University studying evolutionary genomics. Her dissertation described the divergence history for three pine species and drivers of niche and genetic differentiation. She is excited to work with Populus whole genome resequencing data to discover genomic patterns associated with reproductive isolation and adaptive introgression.
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Pennsylvania State University
Connie did her Ph.D. work at Virginia Commonwealth University studying evolutionary genomics. Her dissertation described the divergence history for three pine species and drivers of niche and genetic differentiation. She is excited to work with Populus whole genome resequencing data to discover genomic patterns associated with reproductive isolation and adaptive introgression.
Dr. Alayna Mead, Postdoctoral Scholar
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Pennsylvania State University
Alayna did her Ph.D. work at UCLA working to understand the genomic basis of climate adaptation and stress responses across California species and populations. She is joining PopUp Poplars as an NSF postdoctoral fellow and will be using climate, trait, and whole-genome resequencing to understand the genomic basis of drought tolerance in Populus, and evaluate which populations may be pre-adapted to future climates.
Department of Ecosystem Science & Management, Pennsylvania State University
Alayna did her Ph.D. work at UCLA working to understand the genomic basis of climate adaptation and stress responses across California species and populations. She is joining PopUp Poplars as an NSF postdoctoral fellow and will be using climate, trait, and whole-genome resequencing to understand the genomic basis of drought tolerance in Populus, and evaluate which populations may be pre-adapted to future climates.
Dr. Susanne Lachmuth, Assistant Research Scientist
University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science
Dr. Lachmuth is an evolutionary ecologist with a research focus on ecological processes and rapid evolution in natural populations of declining and invasive plants under anthropogenic environmental change. She implements research across the multiple scales from genetic variation to population and range dynamics and applies a variety of methods including population genetics, field surveys, common-garden and lab experiments as well as ecological modelling.
University of Maryland, Center for Environmental Science
Dr. Lachmuth is an evolutionary ecologist with a research focus on ecological processes and rapid evolution in natural populations of declining and invasive plants under anthropogenic environmental change. She implements research across the multiple scales from genetic variation to population and range dynamics and applies a variety of methods including population genetics, field surveys, common-garden and lab experiments as well as ecological modelling.