Postdocs and Researchers
Visiting Scholars
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Sorel Fitz-Gibbon
Assistant Researcher
Bioinformatician Comparative Genomics
Email: sorel@ucla.edu
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Alexandra Jansen van Rensburg
PhD Candidate – Website
For my PhD I am investigating whether the European common frog, Rana temporaria, is genetically adapted to temperature. I am using a genome wide markers to compare genomic signatures of adaptation in populations found across the elevational gradient in the Swiss Alps, and along the latitudinal gradient in Scandinavia.
Email: alexjvr@gmail.edu

Graduate Students
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Stephanie Steele
PH.D Candidate
Seed dispersal; genetic basis of seedling survival in California and the tropics
Email: sesteele@ucla.edu
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Scott O’Donnell
Ph.D Student
I am broadly interested in the hybridization and introgression between different species of oak. Specifically, I am interested in the role that hybridization and introgression plays in localized adaptation to climate.
Email: sodonnell@live.esu.edu
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Brandon MacDonald
Graduate Student
Studying effects of Climate Change on locally adapted populations of Quercus lobata with implications for phenotypic plasticity.
Email: brandonwsmacdonald@gmail.com
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Alayna Mead
Graduate Student
I’m interested in evolutionary genetics and genomics, particularly in the gene expression of Quercus lobata during drought stress to assess local adaptation of populations.
Email: alayna.mead@gmail.com

Undergraduate Students
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Michelle Lee
I am analyzing morphological data from the common garden experiment at Placerville to understand genetic differences across populations of valley oak, Quercus lobata.
Email: mjlee2016@ucla.edu
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Lauren Lill
I am analyzing data collected from an ongoing common garden experiment at the Institute of Forest Genetics in Placerville. The study is looking at the relationship between genotype and phenotype of valley oak, Quercus lobata.
Email: lalill@ucla.edu

Lab Personnel
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Krista Lee Beckley
B.S.,B.A., Lab Manager
Staff Research Associate
Currently: 1) Studying oak tree response to climate change using genomic tools,
2) Making sure the lab doesn’t burn down.

Email: klbeckley@ucla.edu