Diversification in Castillejinae - correlating life history variation and chromosomal evolution to shifts in the rate of diversification in this species-rich group of primarily western North American plants.

Evolution and systematics of the paintbrushes (Castilleja) - investigating the recent and rapid diversification of perennial Castilleja species in western North America, Mexico, Central America, and Andean South America.  This research addresses a range of questions including, species delimitation, conservation, phylogeography, pollination biology, climatic niche evolution, modes of speciation, classification, and alpha taxonomy.

Evolution and systematics of Bartsia and relatives

- dissertation research of  PhD student and Stillinger Herbarium Fellow Simon Uribe Convers.  This project seeks to place  the South American Bartsia clade in the context of the rest of the ‘European clade’ of Orobanchaceae and investigate the biogeography, evolution and diversification of this diverse group of species in Andean South America.  For more information, visit Simon’s personal webpage.

Orobanchaceae phylogeny & evolution - assembly of large

data sets to synthesize phylogenetic research across the parasitic plant family Orobanchaceae.  This project  is a collaboration with Sarah Mathews and seeks to inform classification and taxonomy, investigate molecular evolution, the evolution of parasitism, and historical biogeography in this fascinating group of plants. 

Assembling the angiosperm tree of life - as part of the

Angiosperm Tree of Life Project, the lab is involved in the reconstruction of relationships among the major lineages of asterids, including campanuilds.  This research direction began while I was a postdoc in the Donoghue lab, and I continue to work with this highly collaborative group.

Using large trees to assess and direct phylogenetic research

-  with recent advances in computational efficiency, bigger, faster computers, and improved algorithms and programs, in conjunction with the rapid accumulation of DNA sequence data and focused phylogenetic studies in the literature, we are now in a position to make really large phylogenetic trees.  These trees provide a fresh perspective on comparative analyses at a much larger scale and are invaluable for assessing and directing future phylogenetic research.   This work began with examples from campanulid angiosperms in collaboration with Jeremy Beaulieu, Stephen Smith, and Michael Donoghue.

Verbenaceae phylogeny - this is a collaboration with Dick Olmstead and the Verbenaceae phylogeny group at at the University of Washington - Yuan Yaowu, Pat Liu-Irving, and Hannah Marx.  We are focused on assessing the phylogenetic utility of various cpDNA coding regions for resolving intergeneric relationships in Verbenaceae.

Phylogenetic community assemblage in riparian communities - in collaboration with Alex Fremier we are investigating the relationship between phylogeny and plant community composition in the Sacramento River valley to understand how flood disturbance influences the plant community in this system.  By coupling evolutionary and ecological processes we aim to improve our understanding of community assembly and our ability to predict directional changes in species composition caused by altered environmental and biotic scenarios.