I've had the privilege to mentor many talented and motivated undergraduates in developing and carrying out independent research projects. Check out their fascinating projects below!
If you're an undergraduate at SUNY Plattsburgh interested in microbes, plants, insects, and/or chemical ecology and their applications for sustainable agriculture, please contact me about research opportunities!
If you're an undergraduate at SUNY Plattsburgh interested in microbes, plants, insects, and/or chemical ecology and their applications for sustainable agriculture, please contact me about research opportunities!
Mentoring at Davidson College
Kayleigh Davies (Biology) & Sam Van Horn (Environmental Studies) are investigating which microbial communities from local organic farms enhance the resistance of tomato plants to specialist (tomato hornworm) and generalist (armyworm) insect pests. Kayleigh will be presenting her results at the RISE Symposium this fall.
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Kate Pottle (Environmental Studies) spent her spring semester investigating whether domestication has reduced the ability of crop plants to recruit natural enemies via volatile emissions through a systematic review. She presented her results at the 2022 Verna Miller Case Symposium at Davidson College.
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Mentoring at the University of Georgia
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Tatyanna Campbell (Chemical Engineering), Phoebe Scharle (Microbiology), Kamaya Brantley (Agriculture & Environmental Sciences), and Nick Miller (Microbiology) took part in my research evaluating how farm management practices influence plant resistance to insect herbivores and disease by shaping soil microbial communities. These fantastic students pushed through the Georgia heat to count insects on 600 tomato plants in August, and continued in the lab to learn molecular techniques, such as DNA extraction.
After a year of research in the lab, Tatyanna and Phoebe were both awarded CURO (Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities) Research Assistantships to continue their research in the summer of 2020! Through a meta-analysis and field experiment, they evaluated how soil management practices shape soil properties and microbial communities. In Spring 2020, Kamaya received a CAES Undergraduate Research Grant for her research evaluating how soil organic amendments shape caterpillar communities! Nick Miller finished up his Fall semester of research by evaluating how soil amendments influence the susceptibility of tomato plants to Southern Blight. |
Mentoring through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program at the University of Michigan
Abigail Randall (Environmental Science) presented her research at the 2018 UROP Spring Symposium on how arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi alter plant reproduction, growth, and defense in the field.
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Annie Bonds (Microbiology) presented her research at the 2018 UROP Spring Symposium on how mycorrhizae alter the induction of plant direct (cardenolides) and indirect defenses (volatiles) by aphids.
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Kamren Johnson (Plant Biology) presented his research at the 2018 UROP Spring Symposium on how mycorrhizae alter plant constitutive tissue metabolites (cardenolides) relative to plant volatile emissions.
Isabelle Katz (Chemical Engineering) was chosen to give an oral presentation at the 2017 Michigan Research Community Spring Symposium on how mycorrhizal fungi influence aphid populations by altering plant traits.
Tori Varnau (Biology) presented her research at the 2017 UROP Spring Symposium on how mycorrhizae influence plant traits and affect natural insect colonization in the field.
Hannah Fuller (Environmental Science) also presented her research at the 2017 UROP Spring Symposium on how mycorrhizae and aphids interact to affect plant traits and was awarded a blue ribbon for her poster presentation.
Harrison Watson (Biology; left) and Fauna Mahootian (Environmental Science; right) presented their research evaluating the effects of AMF on plant phenotype over plant development at the 2015 UROP Spring Symposium.
