Current lab members

Dr. Andrew Hipp, Plant Systematist

Andrew is the lab's primary investigator. Active projects: systematics and molecular ecology of oaks, sedges, and elms; plant speciation and diversification; chromosome and genome size evolution; phylogenetic comparative methods; North American floristics. Contact

Jason Sturner, Herbarium Assistant

Jason manages the herbarium and conducts fieldwork and labwork for research projects. Active projects: floristics of the Chicago region; checklist of the native and naturalized flora of the Arboretum; taxonomy of black oaks in the Chicago region. Contact

Jaime Weber, Research Assistant

Jaime manages the molecular lab; conducts fieldwork, labwork, and data analysis for research projects; and assists in the herbarium. Active projects: systematics of North American black oaks; chromosome rearrangement and population genetics in sedges; systematics of elms. Contact

Linus Gog, Seasonal RA

Linus assists in all aspects of lab work and nomenclatural research, and currently is taking the lead on molecular research in elms. Active projects: systematics and nomenclature of elms; systematics of Carex subgenus Vignea. Contact

Dr. Alka Srivastava, Seasonal RA

Alka assists in targeted projects in the lab, primarily focused on population-genetic studies in oaks. Active projects: population genetic studies in Holm oak (Quercus ilex); molecular studies of introgression between black oak (Q. velutina) and Hill's oak (Q. ellipsoidalis). Contact


Lab alumni

Alicia Giesler, Lab volunteer

Alicia extracted DNA and evaluated variation in chloroplast spacer regions for our molecular research in elms. She is currently pursuing graduate studies at Western Illinois University. Contact

Dr. Karin Kettenring, Visiting researcher

Karin developed a set of microsatellite markers for Carex during a postdoctoral stay in our lab and The Pritzker Lab. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Institute. Contact