Lab Alumni

Graduate Students

Kristen Hladun defended her Master's degree in December 2006. She is now working on her PhD with Dr. John Trumble in the Dept of Entomology at UC Riverside.

Amanda Lentz defended her PhD thesis in the Biology Department at Virginia Tech in July 2007. She is currently an instructor of Biology at Longwood University.

Postdoctoral researchers

Toby Kiers was a Darwin Fellow postdoctoral researcher in the Adler lab from summer 2005-2006. She received a 3 year independent research 'Veni' Grant from Dutch Science Foundation: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO). She is now working with Dr. Marcel G. van der Heijden in the Institute of Ecological Sciences, Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Independent research undergraduates

Jeselyn Calderon-Ayala was a SPUR (Summer Program for Undergraduate Research) student during summer 2007, studying how defense compounds affect pollination in cucumber. She is currently an undergraduate in the Model Institutions for Excellence at the Universidad Metropolitana, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Liz Andrews conducted a senior Honor's thesis in the Adler lab during 2005-06 studying how floral scent attracts herbivores and pollinators of squash plants. She recently received a Master's degree in Entomology in the same department with Dr. Stephen Rich. She is currently applying to PhD programs.

Megan Gittinger conducted an REU project in the Adler lab at Virginia Tech examining correlations between floral traits, defensive traits, and pollinator reliance in the genus Nicotiana. She continued this project after her graduation before working internships with the Smithsonian Institute and for Wild Aid Asia in Thailand. She is now pursuing a PhD program with Dr. Todd Palmer at the University of Florida Zoology Program.

Technicians

Monica Messer was the Adler lab technician from April 2005-May 2006, when we sadly ran out of funds. She is currently working as technical assistant in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department.