Motivated students who are interested in research opportunities in ecology, evolution, and molecular biology are encouraged to contact JSM to discuss research projects in the lab and greenhouse.  

​Positions are available during the academic year, in the summer months, or as students in the Honors Program in the department.  Funding is available through various sources, including...
I am also happy to talk with you about your ideas for Special Topics readings or research credits (in either Environmental Studies or Biology), or sponsor students to undertake a research project in my laboratory.  Full or half (H) course credit options are available. 

​The Department of Biology also maintains a page with links to many off campus summer research opportunities.  
Honors Theses supervised
​
2022-23
  • Mia Bawendi, Characterization of newly diverged polyploid taxon Lycium sp. De Hoop and its relation to other South African Lycium (Solanaceae) species
  • Evan MacArthur-Waltz, Sterility and Separate Sexes in Lycium australe: RNA Sequencing for Candidate Genes
  • Dan Gonzalez-Kosasky, Species Delimitation in Lycium (Solanaceae) using Whole Plastid Genomes
  • Kathleen Harris, Resolving phylogenetic relationships using the whole plastome: An examination of Lycium (Solanaceae)

2021-22
  • Aidan Park, Speciation in the face of polymorphism: An examination of polyploidy in Lycium australe

2019-20     ​
  • James Colwell, Functional (sub-) dioecy in Lycium australe and analyses of inbreeding depression and relative performance of females and hermaphrodites
  • Derek Schneider, Ploidy level differences and reproductive isolation in mixed ploidy populations Lycium australe

​2017-18     ​
  • Anri Chomentowska, Potential association between self-incompatibility and the establishment of interspecific reproductive barriers in Solanum (Solanaceae)
  • Maedot Haymete, Niche divergence and physiological differences between diploid and tetraploid individuals of Lycium australe

2016-17     ​
  • Rebecca Brown, Stomatal characteristics of plants with different ploidy levels 
  • Henry Landis, Allele sharing across species at the S-RNase self-incompatibility locus
  • Veronica Voronina, Restriction site associated DNA (RAD) marker development for phylogenetic analysis

2015-16 
  • Nathan Yao, Species delimitation in Australian Lycium

2014-15    
  • Madeleine Lobrano, Invasive species and mating system determination in an Australian species

2013-14    
  • Caitlin Niesen-Blank, Selfing, inbreeding depression & the evolution of mating systems and sexual strategies

2012-13    
  • Josh Haswell, Molecular characterization of the S-locus in Lycium californicum: Maintenance of gametophytic self-incompatibility and the evolution of gender dimorphism
  • Antoineen White, Phylogeography of a long distance disperser:
the evolution of self-compatibility and the loss of allelic diversity at the mating system locus

2011-12
  • Edmund (T.J.) Keyes, Lycium minimum (Solanaceae), an endemic Galápagos shrub: Phylogeography and characterization of its sexual system
  • Awah-Lem Atanga McCormick, Phylogeography of the widespread species, Lycium carolinianum, and the evolution of mating systems in mainland and island populations
  • Kayleigh O’Keeffe, Evolution of mating system genes in self-incompatible and self-compatible populations
  • Katherine Eisen, Carbon sequestration in the Lyford Grid at Harvard Forest

2010-11
  • Ambika Kamath, Morphological investigation of male and female floral morphology in Lycium californicum
  • Sara Gehrdes, Inter-annual study of the phenology of Eichornia crassipes: Lake Mateos, Mexico 1998-2001

2009-10
  • Thomas R. Beck, Fine-scale nuclear and chloroplast DNA sequence variation in Lycium californicum

2008-09
  • Julian Damashek, Uncovering a tale of worldwide plant dispersal: evolutionary relationships of Chinese Lycium (Solanaceae)
  • Mukta Dhond, Confirmation of a genetic bottleneck at the S-RNase locus in Old World Lycium
  • Jamie L. Kostyun, Allelic diversity and segregation at the S-RNase locus in wild tomato, Solanum peruvianum (Solanaceae)

2007-08
  • Sara Barmettler, Phylogeography of Lycium californicum (Solanaceae) in the southwestern United States and Mexico
  • Andrew P. Whelan, The utility of nuclear conserved orthologous set II (COSII) markers for species-level phylogenetic resolution in Lycium (Solanaceae)

2006-07
  • Caroli De Waal, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa; Breeding Systems in African Lycium (Solanaceae)

2005-06
  • Ellen M. Leffler, Ploidy level and self-incompatibility in five Lycium species (Solanaceae): evidence from the S-RNase locus
  • Joshua R. Shak, Phylogenetic relationships of old world Lycium (Solanaceae): reticulate evolution in the African taxa
  • Min Wang, Architectural effects and sexual dimorphism in Sagittaria latifolia and S. lancifolia (Alismataceae)

2005 (January-December)
  • Jessica M. Blanton, Species-level phylogenetics for an American clade of Lycium (Solanaceae): exploring the utility of the genetic marker nitrate reductase

2004-05
  • Alisa Neymark, Characterization of the S-RNase mating gene in polyploid Lycium exsertum

2003-04
  • Anna E. Savage, Molecular characterization of the S-locus in Lycium: breakdown of gametophytic self-incompatibility and the evolution of gender dimorphism
  • John L. Stanton-Geddes, Breeding systems and reproductive ecology of Lobelia spicata and Lobelia siphilitica (Lobeliaceae) in Massachusetts 

Undergraduate Summer Research Fellows

2019          Stephanie Calderon, Plastid polymorphism in herbarium samples of Lycium australe
2017          Sarah Duggan, Plastid polymorphism in southern African Lycium
2015          Rebecca Brown, Guard cell size and correlation with ploidy level
2015          Veronica Voronina, Microsatellites in Lycium californicum
2013          JiaMei Huang, Diversity of Lycium in Australia: Species delimitation and colonization
2013          Madeleine Lobrano, Worldwide diversity at the S-RNase locus in Lycium carolinianum
2012          Caitlin Niesen-Blank, Mating system characterization and S-RNase allelic diversity in Lycium californicum
2011          Anna Rasmussen, S-RNase allelic diversity in Lycium carolinianum
2009          Cara J. Giaimo, Chloroplast sequence variation and plant barcoding
2008          Ambika Kamath, S-RNase diversity in Chinese Lycium
2008          Carolyn Whiting, Smith College, Does phylogenetic evidence support three species in Grabowskia?
2007          Jamie L. Kostyun, Allele specific amplification of the S-RNase gene in two species of Lycium
2007          Wen Zhang, Molecular variation in noncoding chloroplast regions of Lycium
2006          Sara Barmettler, Development of a digital on-line database for genomic information
2006          Mukta Dhond, Lycium cestroides: extraction and isolation of the S-RNase gene controlling self-incompatibility
2005          Alan C. Kwan, Lycium phylogenies: the utility of nuclear and chloroplast gene regions
2005          Shannon K. Rush, Estimation of plant size in Sagittaria species
2004          Denise A. Twum, Utility of chloroplast & nuclear gene regions for inferring phylogenetic relationships
2003          Allison R. Schroder, Biogeography of Lycium based upon two chloroplast and one nuclear gene region