People
Current R-I Lab members
Please read more information on joining the lab and lab expectations.
Hiya Bhandari (she/her) 
Yu Cao (she/her) 
Mackenzie Chun (she/her)
Juliette Dalicano (she/her) 
Natasha Dhamrait (she/her) 
Regina Fairbanks (they/them)
Julia Harenčár (she/her) 
Forrest Li (he/him)
Beibei Liu (she/her)
Paulo Magalang (he/him)
Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra (he/him) 
Samantha Snodgrass (she/her)
Cristian Stark (he/him)
Natalie Veech (she/her)
Lab Alumni
- Elli Cryan PhD student 2018-2025 (Postdoc UC Irvine)
- Ayelet Salman-Minkov Project Scientist 2023-2024
- Alyssa Phillips PhD student 2018-2024 (Postdoc UC Berkeley)
- Garnet Phinney Undergraduate researcher, 2023-2024 (PhD Student UC Irvine)
- Sarah Nicholson PhD student 2016-2023
- Edwin Solares Postdoc 2021-2023 (Lecturer, UC Davis)
- Miriam Nancy Salazar Vidal Postdoc 2018-2023 (Research Scientist, U Missouri)
- Mitra Menon Postdoc 2020-2022 (Computational Biologist, Form Bio)
- Julianna Porter Postbac, 2021-2022 (PhD Student, UC Davis)
- Luke Sparreo Summer REU, 2022
- Asher Hudson PhD student, 2017-2022 (Postdoc, USDA NC State)
- Catherine Rushworth Postdoc 2018-2022 (Asst. Prof, Utah State)
- Silas Tittes Postdoc 2018-2022 (Research Scientist, U Oregon)
- Robert Horvath Postdoc 2020-2021 (Postdoc, U. Zurich)
- Ning Yang Postdoc 2019-2021 (Professor, Huazhong Ag. University)
- Daniel Gates Postdoc 2016-2020 (Bioinformatician, Checkerspot)
- Taylor Perkins Lab Manager 2019-2020
- Sarah Turner-Hissong Postdoc 2019-2020 (Research Scientist, Bayer Crop Sci.)
- Michelle Stitzer PhD student 2013-2019 (NSF Postdoc, Cornell)
- Dianne Velasco PhD Student 2010-2019 (USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository)
- Li Wang Postdoc 2018-2019 (Research Scientist, Agricultural Genomics Institute Shenzhen)
- Markus Stetter Postdoc 2017-2019 (Asst. Group Leader, U. Köln)
- Wenbin Mei Postdoc 2016-2018 (Scientist at Inari Agriculture)
- Anne Lorant Lab manager, PhD student, postdoc 2013-2018 (Bioinformatician, LBMCC)
- Emily Josephs Postdoc 2015-2018 (Asst. Professor, MSU)
- Luis Avila Programmer 2016-2018 (Research Scientist, Genentech)
- Anna O’Brien PhD Student 2011-2017 (Postdoc, U. Toronto)
- Jinliang Yang Postdoc 2014-2017 (Assistant Professor, U. Nebraska)
- Josh Hough Postdoc 2016-2017
- Paul Bilinski PhD Student 2010-2016 (Associate Professor, West Shore Community College)
- Simon Renny-Byfield Postdoc 2014-2016 (Research Scientist, Corteva Agriscience)
- Kate Crosby Postdoc 2014-2015 (Research Scientist, Indigo Ag)
- Sayuri Tsukahara Postdoc 2013-2015
- Tim Beissinger Postdoc 2014-2015 (Professor, U. Göttingen)
- Arun Durvasula Undergraduate 2013-2015 (PhD Student, UCLA)
- Nivaz Brar Undergraduate 2014-2015
- Chris Fiscus Undergraduate 2014 (PhD Student, UC Riverside)
- Tyler Kent Undergraduate 2013-2015 (PhD Student, U. Toronto)
- Vince Buffalo Programmer 2013-2014 (Postdoc, U Oregon)
- Sofiane Mezmouk Postdoc 2012-2014 (Research Scientist, KWS)
- Shohei Takuno Postdoc 2012-2013 (Asst. Professor, SOKENDAI)
- Matthew Hufford Postdoc 2010-2013 (Assoc. Professor, Iowa State)
- Tanja Pyhäjärvi Postdoc 2010-2012 (Associate Professor, U. Helsinki)
- Joost van Heerwaarden Postdoc 2009-2011 (Researcher, U. Wageningen)
Visiting Scholar: for >100 hours of scholastic visitation
Fellow of the R-I Lab: for >500 hours of scholastic fellowship
Current Collaborators
Genetic diversity in maize and teosinte
Identifying environmentally adaptive alleles for breeding