Research
Biodiversity, Bioinformatics, Conservation Biology, Ecology
My overall research goal is to understand how environmental changes (e.g., climate change, urbanization, species invasions) alter plant biodiversity, phenology, and species interactions, which is critical for predicting ecosystem trajectories and safeguarding life in the Anthropocene. To address this complex ecological question, my research program bridges the gap between fundamental community ecology and cutting-edge data science. My laboratory leverages field work, massive ecological datasets, ecoinformatics, computer vision, and advanced hierarchical statistical modeling to uncover mechanisms driving biodiversity shifts across varying spatial and temporal scales. We also contribute information to key databases (e.g., Phenobase, GUBIC, Wisconsin PEL long-term vegetation data) and provide important infrastructure (e.g., the phyr and hillR R packages, the PhenoVision model) for the broader research community.
Education
PhD, Botany, UW–Madison, 2016
M.S., Biometry, UW-Madison, 2016