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Our Team

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Steven Franks

Principal Investigator

is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Fordham University.  He studies plant ecology and ecological genetics, with a focus on climate change, invasive species and the genetic basis of adaptive evolution

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franks@fordham.edu

Minju Kim

PhD Student

is a PhD student at Fordham University in our lab. His research focuses on (1) investigating rapid adaptive evolution of Brassica rapa and the underlying genetic basis in plant responses to climate change and (2) the adaptive and genomic response of the crop species Oryza sativa to specific field ecosystems. His academic interests include unveiling the evolution of organisms at the genomic and transcriptomic levels. Additionally, he aims to develop machine learning models to utilize genomic, phenotypic, and environmental data to derive meaningful biological and evolutionary insights.

mkim186@fordham.edu

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LinkedIn

Caroline Dewey (she/her/hers)

PhD Student

is a PhD student at Fordham University in our lab. Her research interests focus on thermotolerance and temperature stress in Brassica rapa. She will be using both ecological genetics and rapid evolution in future research. 

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cdewey1@fordham.edu

Meredith Leahy

Undergraduate Researcher

is a senior on the Rose Hill campus majoring in Environmental Science with a minor in Film and Television. She is passionate about the environment and sustainability and intends to pursue a career as a conservation biologist. In the future, she hopes to work as a field researcher studying the effects of the climate crisis on local ecosystems and animals.

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Jayden Curtis

Undergraduate Researcher

 is an Environmental Science major and French minor who is interested in plant ecology and agricultural research. She is passionate about sustainable farming and plans to pursue graduate studies to further her knowledge. Her goal is to contribute to environmental conservation through research.

Olivia Quiros

Undergraduate Researcher

 is a Sophomore student at Fordham University Lincoln Center and is majoring in English and the Natural Sciences. She is interested in climate change’s effects on plant growth and evolution. 

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Khue Nguyen

Undergraduate Researcher

is a sophomore Biology major and pre-med student with a strong interest in ecology. While exploring different paths within medicine, she remains curious about how ecological principles intersect with health and the environment. Her current focus is broad, as she continues to learn and refine her goals through coursework and hands-on experiences. 

Lab Alumni

  • Elena Hamann was a postdoc and teaching fellow at Fordham. Her research focuses on the processes that promote or constrain adaptive evolution in natural plant populations, and attempts at disentangling the relative contributions of adaptation, phenotypic plasticity, and range shifts in response to rapid climate change. Elena is an Assistant Professor for Plant Ecology and Evolution at the Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany.

  • Joey Jaros received their M.S. from Fordham in 2022. They conducted research on how plant-microbial interactions shape the structure and spread of knotweed plant populations. They are currently a PhD student at The Ohio State University.

  • Stephen Johnson received his Ph.D. from Fordham in May 2021. He conducted an experimental evolution project to test Brassica rapas adaptation to drought. He is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Michigan with Dr. Regina Baucom.

  • Conor Gilligan received his M.S. from Fordham in May 2019. He conducted research on the genetic basis of divergence in flowering time in artificially selected lines of Brassica rapa. He is currently a PhD student at NYU.

  • Irina Calic was a postdoc working on our system genomics of rice adaptation to stress project from January – August, 2018. She is currently a postdoc with Juliette de Meaux at the University of Cologne, working on evolution of gene regulation and polygenic adaptation in Arabidopsis species.

  • Acer van Wallendael received his Ph.D. from Fordham in 2018. His research investigated local adaptation and population genomics in the invasive plant Japanese knotweed. He is now working as a postdoc in the lab of David Lowry at Michigan State University.

  • Hansol Lee received her M.S. from Fordham in August 2018.  She conducted research on allelopathy.

  • Michael Sekor received his Ph.D. from Fordham in 2017. He is now working as a postdoctoral teaching fellow (see above).

  • Beth Ansaldi received her Ph.D. from Fordham in 2017. She was co-advised by Dr. Jenn Weber. Beth conducted research on the reproductive ecology of Triodanis perfoliata, a plant with a mixed cleistogamous mating system. She is now working as a project manager in Michigan.

  • Jenn Weber was a postdoctoral research associate for Project Baseline. Jenn received her Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine in 2012. She conducts research on plant reproductive ecology, evolutionary responses to climate change, and plant ecological genetics and genomics. Jenn is an assistant professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

  • Niamh O’Hara is former Ph.D. student and postdoctoral researcher in my lab. She received her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University in 2014. She did a Startup Postdoc at Runway Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute. She is now CEO and co-founder of the biotech company Biota.

  • David Waring M.S. 2012 — Working for National Park Service in Moab Utah

  • Rachel Welt, M.S. 2012– Working for the American Museum of Natural History

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