Kathleen Donohue

Associate Professor

website: http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/Biology/faculty/kd65
email: k.donohue@duke.edu

Post-Doctoral Research Associates

Gaby Auge

 

Graduate Students

Liana Burghardt
email: liana.burghardt@duke.edu

I am interested in the role environmentally-sensitive phenological transitions like flowering and germination play in the evolution of plant life histories. Particularly crucial is determining whether(and how) environmental information used adaptively (or not) to influence flowering time and germination time and how those 'decisions' feedback on one another. Additionally, I am interested in the possible role of germination in habitat selection and the interplay between dispersal, ontogeny, and adaptation.

Charlie Willis
website: http://www.duke.edu/~cgw6/
Cakile Phenology Network
email: charlie.willis@duke.edu

I am interested in the mechanisms that underlie the process of speciation, which I study in the genus Cakile (Brassicaceae). I am currently employing hybridization experiments, common garden experiments, and comparative methods to study the evolution of reproductive isolation and ecological diversification across the clade.

 

Chunhui Zhang
email: c.zhang0624@gmail.com
I am interested in the effect of shade on germination and seedling establishment at the community and/or local level. I am also conducting research on the genetic basis of maternal effects on hydrothermal parameters that regulate seed germination.

 

 

 

 

Paulo Souza Filho
Vising Fullbright Fellow from Brazil.

 

 

Lab Manager

Katie Kovach
website: http://about.me/katherinekovach
email: k.kovach@duke.edu

I am passionate about plants, science, education, and creating. Working with environmental issues and studying plants closely have increased my involvement with environmental literacy, citizen science, and communicating science to a broad audience. My current interests include phenology, biogeography, and systematics. I also create nature based art and am a member of the LabourLove Collective and Recyclique Coop in Durham, NC.

 

Technicians

Brianne Edwards

email: be29@duke.edu

 

Logan Blair

I am interested in phenotypic plasticity and the molecular pathways underlying life-history transitions. I am currently using transgenetic lines to study pleiotropy in the pathways of FLC-regulated germination and flowering time. I also am using quantitative PCR to study natural variation in FLC expression. Outside of the lab I enjoy playing ping-pong, classical guitar, and sampling local microbrews.

 

 

 

 

Undergraduates

 

Tim Wang

Tim (Cleveland, OH) is a junior in Duke's Trinity School of Arts and Sciences. He is pursuing a Psychology major and a Biology minor and is currently applying to medical schools. He studies phylogenetics and seed dispersal with Charlie Willis, his graduate mentor. In his free time, Tim likes Rock Band (drums only), soccer, and live comedy. Tim is also a devout Cameron Crazie, and a Line Monitor, and in the winter months, he can be found jamming to Deadmau5 in the confines of Krzyzewskiville--he has only missed 4 home games (he lives too far away to attend the winter break games). Tim also TA's for the chemistry and physics department, is a tour guide, volunteer at the Duke University Medical Center, a Discover Duke ambassador, and a Camp Kesem NC counselor.

 

Zoe Hill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Corley Gibbs

Anamika Saha

Mercedes Zapata-Garcia

Joe Provenzano

Jennifer Zou

 

 

 

 

Lab Alumni

Postdoctoral Associates
Catherine Martel: Postoctoral Research Associate London, Ontario, Canada.
Rafael Rubio de Casas: Postdoctoral Research Associate Grenada, Spain.
Deepak Barua: Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Science and Education Research
Converse Griffith: US Forest Service
Jocelyn Hall : Assistant Professor, University of Alberta.
Shane Heschel: Assistant Professor, Colorado College
Chandra Polisetty: USDA

Graduate Students
Lauren Ruane: Assistant Professor Christopher Newport University
George Chiang: Post-Doctoral Research Associate UCLA

Technicians
Elizabeth Boyd: Graduate Student, University of Illinois, Chicago Circle
Colleen Butler: Graduate Student, Tufts University
Emily Dittmar: Graduate Student, Michigan State University
Tracy Tisdale: Technician, Broad Institute
Andrew Wheeler: Graduate student, Claremont Graduate University, Rancho Santa Ana

Honors Undergraduates
Michael Murphy
Paul Griggs
Naomi Wender
Shaun Takao
Jessica Selby
Dunbar Carpenter