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Research and Education in Plant-Microbial Ecology

I am looking for research and teaching positions exploring the interface of plant and microbial ecology. My long-term goal is to build a research program in plant-microbial interactions with a focus on how dispersal and assembly of leaf microbial communities affect plant-plant interactions.

I am a currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Environmental at the Czech Academy of Sciences working under Drs. Kohout and Baldrian. Formerly, I was a research associate in the Evans lab at the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) at Michigan State University and a graduate of the Rudgers lab at the University of New Mexico. I am fascinated by the factors that drive plant and microbial community composition within the context of climate change.  To explore these broad topics I use field and greenhouse experiments, laboratory techniques, and metabarcoding sequencing. My past work has primarily focused on the effects of an above-ground fungal mutualist (Epichloë amarillans) on the response of its host plant American beachgrass (Ammophila breviligulata) to climate change and how this mutualist alters plant species interactions, nutrient cycling, and soil microbial communities in the Great Lakes dunes. At KBS, I explored the microbial community of leaves, roots, and soils of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). My current work focuses on the global distributions and identification of leaf and root fungal endophytes using the GlobalFungi database.