publications

We sequenced the complete genomes of seven bacteria collected from the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet. These organisms survive in an environment of extreme cold, UV radiation, and limited nutrients. Publishing their genomes makes them available for researchers worldwide to study how life adapts to extreme conditions — and whether these microbes could be useful in biotechnology, including my own work on biocementation in permafrost.

Virginia spiraea is a rare shrub found along rivers in the southern Appalachians. We studied its genetics and reproduction across scattered populations and found that these populations are deeply isolated — genetically "frozen" with very little gene flow between them. This means each population is essentially on its own evolutionarily, which has major implications for conservation: losing any single population means losing unique genetic diversity that won't be replaced.

Eastern hemlocks across the Appalachians are dying from an invasive insect called the hemlock woolly adelgid. As hemlocks disappear, forests change — more light reaches the floor, soils warm up, and the fungal communities in the soil shift. I studied whether these changes affect how well red oak seedlings form partnerships with beneficial root fungi (mycorrhizae) and how that influences their growth. Understanding these cascading effects helps us predict what Appalachian forests will look like as they lose one of their most important tree species.