HUGE CONGRATULATIONS!! are in order to Jesús Martinez Gomez who passed his qualifying exams today and is now a PhD Candidate. This is a particularly impressive accomplishment in that his exams advance him to candidacy at both UC Berkeley and at Cornell University, where Jesús will continue his PhD studies starting this summer. Jesús is currently a Chancellor’s Fellow and a Hellman Fellow at UC Berkeley, and has received a Provost’s Fellowship for Continuing Students at Cornell. He is also the recipient of a NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.
Jesús’ exam committee included Drs. Marvalee Wake, Brent Mishler, Ben Blackman and Sarah Hake. Questions from his examiners focused on evodevo, evolutionary theory, phylogenetics, adaptation and selection, and developmental genetics. Jesús also introduced us to his dissertation plans, which include the evolution of the umbel inflorescence structure, characteristic of onions (Allium). He mastered both his dissertation plan presentation and an amazing breath of
material represented by the diversity of questions presented by his examiners.
Basically, he rocked it!!! Congratulations Jesús, PhD Candidate extraordinaire!
