Current R-I Lab members

Please read more information on joining the lab and lab expectations.


Brenda Cameron
(she/her/hers)

Brenda is the lab manager and czar. In addition to working with us, she manages the Bay, Grosberg and Stachowicz labs as well, and is an award-winning lab safety expert.

Elli Cryan
(she/her/hers)

Elli is a Plant Biology graduate student coadvised by Dan Kliebenstein, working on the evolution of gene networks.

Regina Fairbanks
(they/them/theirs)

Regina is a first year student in the Population Biology graduate group with interests including archaeology, genomics, and plant domestication.

Asher Hudson
(he/him/his)

Asher is a graduate student in Population Biology working on genotype by environment interaction in maize as part of the maize diversity project.

Mitra Menon
(she/her/hers)

Mitra is a postdoctoral fellow working on the evolutionary genetics of TEs. Her previous work focuserd on ecological and evolutionary genomics of conifers.


Sarah Odell
(she/her/hers)

Sarah is a Plant Biology graduate student coadvised by Dan Runcie, working on evolutionary and statistical genetics in maize.

Alyssa Phillips
(she/her/hers)

Alyssa is a Plant Biology graduate student working on environmental adaptation in big blue stem as part of the PanAnd project.

Julianna Porter
(she/her/hers)

Julianna is an Genetics & Genomics major and the recipient of the Nieland Family Award to do independennt research on adapation in Tripsacum as part of the PanAnd project. .


Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra (he/him/his)

Jeff is a Professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology and a faculty member of the Center for Population Biology and the Genome Center.

Catherine Rushworth
(she/her/hers)

Cathy works on the evolution of reproductive incompatibilities between maize and teosinte with collaborator Yaniv Brandvain.

Defne Sime
(she/her/hers)

Defne is an undergraduate working with Mitra to udnerstand how indigenous language groups may have structured genetic diversity in traditional maize landraces.


Edwin Solares
(he/him/his)

Edwin is a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow interested in applying computational solution to problems in genetics and genomics.

Lab Alumni

Fellow of the R-I Lab: for >500 hours of scholastic fellowship

Current Collaborators

Genetic diversity in maize and teosinte * Jianbing Yan * Ning Yang

Evolution of Incompatibility Loci in Maize and Teosinte

Quantitative Genetics of Genotype x Environment Interaction

Evolutionary Genetics of Transposable Elements

Convergent Evolution in the Andropogoneae

Evolutionary genetics of highland adaptation in maize