Welcome to the Ashman Lab
Past Ashman Lab members -where are they now?
All have gone on to their desired careers, some of them are highlighted here!
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Dr. Avery Russell
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Dr. Russell was a PEEP fellow between 2017-2019 and worked on reciprocal exploitation between plants and pollinators shapes foraging behavior and the display traits, rewards, and microbiome of flowers. He continues to collaborate with the Ashman lab on these topics! He is now an Assistant Prof at Missouri State University.
Dr. Na Wei
Dr. Wei was a postdoc between 2015-2019. She is now Research Scientist at Holden Forests & Gardens, and she continues to collaborate on polyploidy in strawberries.
Dr. Anna Johnson
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Dr. Matt Koski
Anna was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow with the lab 2016-2018 studying the effects on invasion and fragmentation on pollen transfer networks in Hawaii. She is now a quantitative ecologist with the West Penn Conservancy understanding how to best describe and conserve the structure and function of plant communities.
Matt received his PhD in 2015. He is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia. He continues to collaborate with the Ashman lab on the climate change on UV floral patterns. He is now an Asst Prof at Clemson University!
Dr. Nicole Forrester
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Nikki received her PhD in 2019 . Her dissertation addressed whether polyploidy directly enhances the quantity and quality of the legume-rhizobia mutualism in such a manner that facilitates establishment in non-native habitats and allowing rapid range expansion. She also forged a career in science communication, and is now a freelance science writer and Highlander Outdoorsman magazine publisher.
Dr. Rainee Kaczorowski
Rainee was a postdoc in the lab from 2016-2018. She was the Outreach Coordinator with the Dept. of Biological Sciences Outreach Program and is now a high School teacher.
Dr. Maria Rebolleda-Gomez
Dr. Rebolleda-Gomez was a Pittsburgh Ecology and Evolution Postdoctoral Fellow from 2019-2019 studying the role of spatial structure and dispersal in the evolution of microbes. She continues to collaborate with the lab on projects to understand the importance of pollination on the ecology and evolution of floral metacommunities. Additionally, María is interested in the evolution of symbiosis and heritability in complex systems and the evolution of microbes in a community context. She is now an Asst Prof at UCIrvine.
Dr. Cassie Majetic
Cassie received her PhD in 2008. She is now a Full Professor and Chair of Env Sci at St. Mary's College.
Dr. Gerardo Arceo-Gomez
Dr. Rachel Spigler
Gerardo received his PhD in 2014, and postdoced for one year in the Ashman lab. He is now an Associate Professor at Eastern Tennessee State University, and continues to collaborate with the Ashman lab on plant-pollinators in biodiversity hotspots.
Rachel was a postdoc in the Ashman lab. She is now an Associate Professor at Temple University.
Dr. George Meindl
Dr. Edi Wipf
George received his PhD in 2015. His dissertation was on the effects of heavy metal accumulation on plant-pollinator interteractions. He is now an Assistant Professor at SUNY Binghamton.
Dr. Janette Steets
Janet received her PhD in 2005. She was an Associate Professor at Oklahoma State University. She is now a data scientist for NASA.
Heidi was an undergraduate in the Ashman Lab. She has now received her PhD at UC Berkeley.
Lauren Stanley
Lauren was an undergraduate in the Ashman Lab. She has now a received her PhD at U of Connecticut and is a Postdoc at MSU.
Dr. Raj Govindarajulu
Raj was a postdoc in the Ashman lab. He is now a Senior Scientist Eurofins Lancaster Labs.
Dr. Zhaokui Du
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Dr. Du focused was a visiting Scientist in the Ashman lab in 2017-2018 He studied artificial polyploids in strawberry and their performance under stress.
Brian Rose
High School Teacher
Biology teacher at Pittsburgh Science and Technology Academy. Earned his BS in Biology at Penn State University and his MAT in secondary science education at the University of Pittsburgh. Currently working with the Ashman lab under the NSF Research Experiences for Teachers program, conducting research on urban plant/pollinator interactions and writing curriculum to bring this work to the high school classroom.
Dr. Andrea Fetters
Dr. Fetters received her PhD in 2021 on drivers of pollen virome and is now a NSF PDF at OSU.
Rebecca Dalton
Rebecca was an undergraduate in the Ashman Lab. She has now received a PhD at Duke University and is a post doc at RMBL.
Dr. Jessica D. Stephens
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Jess was a postdoctoral fellow from 2017-2018. She is now contributing to research and conservation efforts of sensitive plants in the SE USA as Conservation Scientist at Atlanta Botanic Garden. She also continues to collaborate with the Ashman lab on floral microbial communities.
Dr. Jing Xia
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Dr. Xia was a visiting scientist in the Ashman lab working on pollen transfer networks. She is interested in the effects of urbanization on pollination.
Dr. Sergio Ramos
Dr. Ramos received his PhD from the University of Zurich. In collaboration with the Turcotte and Ashman labs Serch examined the effects of Dicamba on plants.
Dr. Anne Sternberger
Dr. Sternberger is now a biomedical educator.
Rebecca Hayes
Rebecca worked with the Ashman lab to develop a biology curriculum based on the floral microbiome prior to embarking on graduate school at the University of Oregon.