John Beck (jbeck1[at]utk.edu), Ph.D. student. John is interested in plant systematics and floristics of the southeastern U.S. For his Master's work John did a floristic inventory of Prentice Cooper State Forest in Tennessee. For his Ph.D. John is studying the problematic genus Sida and related genera (Malvaceae). John is using herbarium and field studies, as well as molecular phylogenetic analyses of both chloroplast and nuclear-encoded DNA sequences.
Dwayne Estes (tnplants[at]yahoo.com), Ph.D. student. Dwayne is interested in floristics of the southeastern U.S., and especially of cedar glade and rock outcrop species. For his Ph.D. he is studying the genus Gratiola (Scrophulariaceae s.l. or Plantaginaceae). Dwayne is using information from plant morphology, ecology, and molecular data to evaluate relationships and species boundaries within Gratiola. Dwayne will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Biology at Austin Peay State University in August 2007.
Steve Furches (mfurches[at]utk.edu), Ph.D. student. Steve is interested in population genetics, phylogenetics and polyploidy. For his Ph.D. he is studying the origins of several polyploid species of Hibiscus sect. Furcaria (Malvaceae) using molecular phylogenetic analyses of several nuclear genes. Check out Steve's web page here.
Dr. Ed Lickey (elickey[at]utk.edu), was a Post-doctoral Research Associate (now working in the UT Mycology Lab on the Fungal ATBI project). In my lab Ed worked on NSF-funded projects investigating the alcohol dehydrogenase (Adh) gene family and its potential use in phylogenetic analysis in Hibiscus sect. Furcaria (Malvaceae); phylogeographic studies of Taxodium (Bald and Pond Cypress); as well as on molecular population genetics of developmental genes in Arabidopsis.
Dr. Joey Shaw (joey-shaw[at]utc.edu), Ph.D. 2005. Joey worked on the systematics and phylogeography of the North American Plums (Prunus subgenus Prunus sect. Prunocerasus, Rosaceae) using a combination of field work, herbarium studies, and molecular phylogenetic analyses to investigate this taxonomically perplexing group. Joey is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga.
Charles Winder (ctwinder[at]gmail.com), M.S. 2004. Charles is interested in conservation biology and studied a rare and endangered species, the Cumberland Stitchwort (Minuartia cumberlandensis, Caryophyllaceae). The Cumberland Stitchwort is an endemic to the sandstone rockhouses of the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee and Kentucky, and occurs only in small scattered populations. Charles analyzed sequence diversity of nuclear (g3pdh) and chloroplast (rpS16) regions to survey levels of genetic diversity within and among populations of the Cumberland Stitchwort, and to compare levels of diversity with a more widespread congener, Minuartia glabra.
Jerry Bresowar (gb73080[at]appstate.edu), B.S. 2005. Jerry worked as an undergraduate researcher on the systematics of Thaspium (Apiaceae) in my lab. There are currently three recognized species of Thaspium (T. barbinode, T. pinnatifidum, T. trifoliatum), but morphological evidence suggests that a previously recognized species (T. chapmanii) may deserve recognition at the specific level. Jerry is using a combination of morphological and molecular phylogenetic analysis of nuclear-encoded Adh sequences to address this issue. Jerry is now a M.S. student at Appalachian State University
Wusheng Liu (wushengl[at]hotmail.com), Ph.D 2007. Wusheng studied the molecular evolution of a group of floral developmental MADS-box genes (e.g., pistillata, apetala1, apetal3, agamous) in the cotton genus Gossypium (Malvaceae). In addition to exploring this important gene family beyond the confines of model systems like Arabidopsis, these data will be used to explore the effect of allopolyploidy on a gene family that is hypothesized to be under tight developmental control.