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Current Lab Members
Maribeth Latvis, PhD
Principal Investigator
Maribeth is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (say yah to da U.P., eh!), and her love of plants fuels her career, teaching, and mentoring, and has led her on some spectacular adventures. She is also a first generation college student, Appalachian Trail thru-hiker (2007), printmaker, and wannabe professional baker.
Eric Puetz
MS student (2021- present)
Eric is focusing on population genomics and distribution modeling of Aquilegia brevistyla, a Black Hills disjunct of conservation concern. He grew up in the Prairie Coteau region of South Dakota and has a strong interest in soil health, regenerative agriculture, and native plants.
Sierra Sattler
Undergraduate Student (2020-present)
Major in Ecology and Environmental Science with a minor in Botany and Sustainability. Sierra is working on the Wokini-Herbarium Challenge Grant involving ethnobotanical collections, data sovereignty, and digitization. She will also participate in the CPING summer research program (CREU) working on Salsola.
Brandon Clark
MS student (2022- present)
Brandon is using 480 experimental plots at Oak Lake Field Station to explore how various biodiversity metrics (richness, phylogenetic diversity, genetic diversity) influence pollinator communities and soil health. He is also assessing outreach and education strategies to communicate our findings to regional stakeholders.
Lab Alumni
Deva Raj Khanal (MS 2019-2022, now a PhD Student at Saint Louis University and the Missouri Botanical Garden)
Kaitlin Schieuer (Undergraduate; 2022 BSA Young Botanist Award!)
Sarah Herzog (MS 2018-2020, now a PhD Student at Kansas State University)
Braedon Honetschlager (Undergraduate)
Allison Shorter (Undergraduate)
Lorna Wright (Undergraduate)
Rachel Savage
Undergraduate Student (2022- present)
Major in Ecology and Environmental Science. Rachel is working on the CPING project and learning laboratory and bioinformatics skills to acquire genomic data and model ploidy in Salsola!
Oyetola Oyebanji, PhD
CPING Postdoc (2023- present)
Building off of extensive field and herbarium experience in Nigeria, Tola just completed his PhD at the Kunming Institute of Botany in China, where he focused on phylogenomics and distribution modeling in Fabaceae. He is now tackling Salsola population genomics over the course of this notorious plant invasion!
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