Looking for undergraduate students interested in plants, climate change, data analysis, science communication, leaves, roots, respiration, photosynthesis, seasons, literature searches, writing, science pedagogy, and so on. Contact me via email to learn more about opportunities during the academic year and summer. I am open to collaborations across institutions and disciplines.

Current lab members

Romeo Gomes (’24, Environmental Studies)

Lukas Lock-Scamp (’25 Environmental Studies)

Connery Ritter (’25 Geography)

Chloe Andree (’23 Biology, Anthropology, Psychology)

The Summer ’23 Team will kick off research on urban tree impacts on shade and temperature in June 2023!

Lab Alumni

Saiido Noor (’23, Biology & Data Science)

• Saiido worked with Elizabeth Hrycyna (’21) on urban ecology datasets based in the Twin Cities as well as other Midwestern cities to examine historic and current inequities and how they relate to plant and ecological variables. Saiido has recently worked at UPenn and Scripps for summer research internships and is looking towards graduate school in biostatistics. Saiido will be attending UPenn for a PhD in Biostatistics and Epidemiology in Fall 2023!

Elizabeth Hrycyna (’21, Biology)

• Elizabeth is now a practicing entomologist and ecologist technician at University of Illinois. A manuscript based on her senior thesis on redlining and NOx pollution is now published in Elementa (Summer 2022).

Jennings Mergenthal (’21, Biology & History)

• Jennings is now at the Science Museum of Minnesota, and will be joining the UMN graduate program in Culture Heritage and Public History. In the lab, Jennings worked on the intersection of climate change, plant physiology, and place-based history using herbarium collections, and is a co-author with Mary on a book chapter about environmental justice pedagogy and Hrycyna et al. 2022. Outside of the lab, Jennings also analyzes and produces anti-colonial historical maps. 

Kori Suzuki (’21, Media Studies, Journalism, Environmental Studies)

• Kori is now in graduate school at UC Berkeley for journalism and helped visually document the lab’s activities. 

Jean Pengra (’20, Biology & Environmental Studies)

• Jean focused on the leaf-level physiological response of two species across ages and micro-environments at Ordway. Jean is now in graduate school for plant ecology. 

Lianna Goldstein (’20, Biology)

• Lianna examined stomatal responses in blueberry under warming and elevated CO2 at SPRUCE. Lianna works for Hennepin Country in environmental outreach. 

Ally Kruper (’21, Environmental Studies – now at University of Washington)

• Ally examined photosynthetic responses to light and season in sub-canopy trees at Ordway. 

Arceus Pogany (’19, Biology)

• Arceus examined the carbon storage and biodiversity on Macalester’s St. Paul campus. 

Caitlyn Linehan (’19, Trinity College)

• Caitlyn focused on autumn tree phenology in a deciduous and evergreen species and how it related to non-structural carbohydrates through independent research at The Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory. She is now pursuing a Masters in GIS at Lehman College in NYC. Caitlyn is in a PhD program in Geography at UCSD. 

Melissa Martinez (’16, Clarkson University)

• Melissa worked on pine physiology under current and warmed conditions through independent research at The Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama and is now pursuing a degree in school counseling at Hunter College in NYC.