2018 Mentors and Projects

2018 REU Mentors and Projects

Here is a list of REU mentors and potential projects that are available for 2018. On your application, please request three mentors and projects. Assignment of accepted students to mentors will be based upon student requests, mentor input, and any special qualifications needed for individual projects.

• Matthew Albrecht – MBG, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Restoration Ecology with Rachel Becknell – Washington University in St. Louis. Project: The effects of soil microbes on the growth and survival of the federally endangered Astragalus bibullatus.
• Wendy Applequist – MBG, Plant Systematics. Project: Revisionary studies of Malagasy Salicaceae.
• Monica Carlsen – MBG, Plant Systematics, Araceae. Project: A revision of Anthurium section Dactylophyllium in tropical America – using morphology and genomics.
• Tom Croat – MBG, Plant Systematics, Araceae. Project: Revision of Anthurium sect. Cardolonchium (Araceae) for Department of Carchi, Ecuador.
• Christine Edwards – MBG, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Population Genetics. Project: The relationship between population size and fecundity in Mead’s milkweed.
• Aaron Floden – MBG, Plant Systematics, Flora of Missouri. Project: Assessing the taxonomic status of Hypericum densiflorum var. interior.
• Robbie Hart – MBG, William L. Brown Center, Ethnobotany. Project: Biases in the use of importance measures in ethnobotanical studies.
• Iván Jiménez – MBG, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Biodiversity. Project: Did botanists poison Darwin’s mind about the nature of species?
• Allison Miller, Claudia Ciotir, and Sterling Herron – St. Louis University, Population Genetics, Crop Development. Project: Building a botanical foundation for sustainable agriculture: ethnobotany, morphology, and geography, and population genetics of emerging crops.
• James S. Miller – MBG, Plant Systematics. Project: Description of new species of Malleastrum from Madagascar.
• Rosa del C. Ortiz – MBG, Plant Systematics, Menispermaceae, with Cynthia Hong-Wa – Claude E. Phillips Herbarium, Delaware State University, Plant Systematics, Madagascar. Project: Studies in Malagasy Menispermaceae, a multivariate analysis of Burasaia madagascariensis.
• Adam Smith – MBG, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Global Change Ecology. Project: “White-hat hacking” of biodiversity databases: What information is available online to plant poachers?
• Sebastián Tello – MBG, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Ecology. Project: Is competition diluted in species rich communities?