Graduate Alumni
Dr. Scott Clark
Scott studied the way plant communities develop, respond to exotic invasions, interact with soil microbiota, and adapt to climate change. He has chronicled his experience doing research on sea turtles in the Galapagos Islands at darwinsfootsteps.com and his time backpacking and exploring the natural landscape of Texas at deartexas.com. He graduated with a B.S. in Biology from the University of Houston and has worked as a photographer, writer and multimedia news editor.
Dr. Noah Luecke
Noah received his B.S. from Cal State Monterey Bay in Biology. He then worked in a Plant Pathology lab at the USDA-ARS. He is interested in understanding the relative importance of multiple plant microbiomes on plant performance. His goal is to understand how shifts in the environment may change the effects and importance of each microbiome. He is using Texas prairies to combine his two passions, science and the great outdoors. Noah is the recipient of the AP Kimball Fellowship award. Noah earned his PhD in 2022.
Dr. Hannah Locke
Hannah graduated with a B.A. in Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies from Goucher College. After spending three years in the classroom learning how to effectively teach science with Teach for America, Hannah returned to research to pursue her interests in plant community ecology. Her work primarily explores how soil symbionts influence plant traits, and mediate plant-insect interactions aboveground, but she is widely interested in mutualisms, multitrophic interactions and phenotypic plasticity. In her free time, she enjoys experimenting with gluten-free recipes and taking long walks with her dog in state parks. Hannah earned her PhD in 2021 and is currently an Assistant Professor at LaSalle University. (Photo credit to Lyle Hawthorne)
Jan Dudenhoeffer | Postdoc
Jan received his doctoral degree from the University of Freiburg in Germany working on multiple aspects of plant-biota interactions, ranging from pollination to plant-soil feedbacks in the ‘Jena Biodiversity Experiment’. Afterwards he worked at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich in the UK, trying to make bumblebees better pollinators using caffeine. Here in Houston and back to his ‘roots’ he worked on how changes in precipitation influence plant-soil feedbacks and how this might change the dynamics of plant community development.
Anna Hawkins | M.S.
Anna completed her master’s degree in Spring 2017. She tested how soil moisture influences interactions between plants and soil microbes in the Texas coastal prairie. Before coming to UH, Anna received her B.S. from the University of Alabama. In addition to science, Anna also enjoys hiking, pokemon, Zelda, baking, and all thing Miyazaki!
Postdoc Alumni
Dr. Jan Dudenhöffer
Jan received his doctoral degree from the University of Freiburg in Germany working on multiple aspects of plant-biota interactions, ranging from pollination to plant-soil feedbacks in the ‘Jena Biodiversity Experiment’. Afterwards he worked at the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Greenwich in the UK, trying to make bumblebees better pollinators using caffeine. Here in Houston and back to his ‘roots’ he worked on how changes in precipitation influence plant-soil feedbacks and how this might change the dynamics of plant community development.
Former Lab Technicians and Post-Baccs
Dr. Michelle Busch
Michelle joined us in September 2015 after finishing her B.S. at the University of Michigan, spending some time in Uganda, and TA’ing at the University of Michigan’s Biostation. She is highly skilled in all things ecological and kept everything in the lab running smoothly. When she isn’t sciencing (and sometimes when she is sciencing), Michelle likes being scared, Harry Potter, and baking for the lab. Michelle went on to earn her Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma, where she is studied stream ecology. While in the lab, Michelle received a honorable mention for her application to NSF’s Graduate Research Fellowship Program.
Dr. Heather Slinn
Heather was our lab tech during the summer of 2015. She came to us from the University of British Columbia, where she worked with Greg Crutsinger. She was responsible for getting the lab up and running. We set up an amazing number of experiments while she was here! Heather earned her Ph.D. student at the University of Guelph studying tritrophic interactions in the tropics. Now, she is a plant scientist in industry.
Jakob Joachin
Jakob was an NSF REPS trainee in the lab. They worked on basically every project in the lab for the past few years, from plant-herbivore interactions to dune restoration to climate change and plant-microbe interactions. As a NSF REPS fellow, they investigating how abiotic conditions can shape the specificity of plant-microbe interactions. Jakob earned an NSF GRFP is currently a graduate student at Humboldt State University.
Undergraduate Alumni