Current Appointments & Affiliations
Professor of Biology
·
2011 - Present
Biology,
Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Associate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
·
2017 - Present
Duke Science & Society,
University Initiatives & Academic Support Units
Recent Publications
Comparative phylogenetic analyses of RNA editing in fern plastomes suggest possible adaptive innovations.
Journal Article The New phytologist · May 2025 RNA editing in plant organelles is widely regarded as a neutral corrective mechanism, yet it persists as a complex, energetically costly process, requiring numerous nuclear-encoded pentatricopeptide repeat proteins. Ferns are the most diverse lineage of la ... Full text CiteA phylogenetically informed generic reclassification of the hemionitid ferns (Pteridaceae: Cheilanthoideae)
Journal Article Taxon · April 1, 2025 The roughly 500 species of cheilanthoid ferns exhibit a diversity of morphological adaptations to xeric environments. However, most of these traits have evolved independently multiple times, impeding past efforts to establish a natural classification for t ... Full text CiteThe PteridoPortal: A publicly accessible collection of over three million records of extant and extinct pteridophytes.
Journal Article Applications in plant sciences · March 2025 PremisePteridophytes-vascular land plants that disperse by spores-are a powerful system for studying plant evolution, particularly with respect to the impact of abiotic factors on evolutionary trajectories through deep time. However, our ability t ... Full text CiteRecent Grants
Digitization TCN: Collaborative Research: The Pteridological Collections Consortium: An integrative approach to pteridophyte diversity over the last 420 million years
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill · 2018 - 2022DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Evolution and Function of Farina in the Desiccation-tolerant Notholaenid Ferns (Pteridaceae)
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2017 - 2022Oceans Apart: Assessing the roles of Vicariance and Long-distance Dispersal in the Widely Disjunct Fern Genus Cheilanthes (Pteridaceae)
Inst. Training Prgm or CMEPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Geographic Society · 2019 - 2019View All Grants
Education, Training & Certifications
Duke University ·
1995
Ph.D.
University of Guelph (Canada) ·
1981
M.S.
McGill University (Canada) ·
1976
B.S.