Great things happening in Spring 2026 for our lab members:

Congrats to Braden Doucet on successfully defending his master thesis and being named a finalist for UL-Lafayette Alumni Association's Outstanding Masters Graduate Award

Congrats to Lana Gaspard on her LEAF Award for excellence in undergraduate research 

Congrats to Stacy Holt for winning Best Talk at the UL-Lafayette Graduate Student Symposium

Congrats to Dr. Brandon Hendrickson on accepting an assistant professor position at Valdosta State University starting in Fall 2026

You guys rock!

Also a big welcome to incoming PhD student, Ziqi Xie! 

We study how often adaptation occurs in natural plant populations as well as the genetic and ecological underpinning of such adaptation. Our work largely focuses on adaptation in response to selection pressures associated with climate change including shifting growing seasons, more frequent and severe droughts, and altered biotic interactions. We also are interested in understanding the role of adaptation in the invasions of introduced species. Methods in the lab range from molecular genetics to genomics and bioinformatics to manipulative experiments in the field, all integrated together to better understand fundamental questions in evolutionary biology.

You may notice that only one tab within this website is devoted to research; this is because scientists have a number of other equally important responsibilities including teaching and mentoring students, communicating science to the public, assisting in development of public policy and promoting the transition between basic and applied research. We place a high value on each of these topics and strive to make a contribution to each of these priorities.