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![Science](/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/2024/03/18/banner_science_0.jpg?itok=6ZSBMvd3)
I am a researcher in Dr. Andrea Kramer’s lab at the Chicago Botanic Garden. My work involves investigating functional traits and diversity in plant communities, rare species conservation, and restoration ecology. My current projects include research into intraspecific trait variation in prairie plant species, implications of hierarchical trait variation in plant competition, root-shoot trait covariation, and conservation of rare and threatened plant species. I manage a microproagation lab focusing on developing tissue culture techniques for both rare/exceptional and restoration-relevant plant species. I coordinate the Synthesis Center for Conservation and Restoration at the Negaunee Institute for Plant Conservation Science and Action at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I also work to support data analysis and visualization for projects with collaborators at the Chicago Botanic Garden as well as a number of institutions nationally and internationally.