People

The Specht Lab group comprises a powerful cohort of fearless researchers — including grads, undergrads, and postdocs — all working together to understand the patterns and processes of plant evolution and diversification.

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Postdoctoral Fellows, Scholars and Researchers

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Graduate Students

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Undergraduate Researchers

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Danielle Sonnenleiter
Laboratory Assistant

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Former Specht Lab Personnel

Throughout the years, the Specht Lab has always been more than the sum of its parts.  This is because of the individuals that have passed through, and the interactions they’ve had which generate a supportive, creative, innovative and welcoming scholarly and social environment that thrives on diversity of perspectives.  If you’ve been a member in the past and are interested in joining our mentoring slack channel, please contact me.  Also, join our FB group and slack channel (the Spechtaculars) and keep in touch!!

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Former Graduate Students

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Dr. Chodon Sass
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2010
Postdoctoral Scholar
Research Associate
Currently: Project manager at MyAncestry.com

Dr. Madelaine Bartlett
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2010
Currently: Professor, UMASS Amherst Department of Biology

Dr. Tanya Renner
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2012
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Assistant Professor, San Diego State University
Currently: Associate Professor, Penn State University

Dr. Ana Almeida
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2013
Fulbright/CAPES Postdoctoral Fellow
Ernst Mayr Finalist, SSE
Currently: Professor and Department Chair, CSU-East Bay

Dr. Stephen Yee
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2015
NSF DDIG / UC Mexus
sfyee@berkeley.edu

Dr. Riva Bruenn
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2017
Berkeley Fellow; Vlamis Research Fellow
rbruenn@berkeley.edu
Currently: Assistant Professor of Biology, Santa Rosa Junior College

Kali Lader
Graduate Student, MS 2016
Microbiology
kmlader@berkeley.edu

Gracie Benson-Martin
Graduate Student, MS 2017
Plant Biology
graciebensonmartin@gmail.com

Thiago Andre
Visiting Graduate Student, 2015
Currently: Professor of Botany at the University of Brasilia
thiagojcandre@gmail.com

Dr. Joyce Onyenedum (nee Chery)
Graduate Student – PhD Awarded 2019
NSF Graduate Research Fellow; Chancellor’s Fellow; Dissertation Year Fellow
Assistant Professor, Cornell University
Currently: Assistant Professor, New York University

Dr. Carrie Tribble
Integrative Biology – PhD Awarded 2020 joint with Rothfels Lab @ UCB
NSF Graduate Research Fellow;
DS421 Doctoral Fellow
NSF Postdoc with Rosana Zenil-Ferguson at UH Manoa
Currently:  Assistant Professor and Herbarium Curator, University of Washington, Seattle

Gabriela Torres
Visiting Graduate Student – UF Viçosa, 2018
gabrielatorres.bio@hotmail.com

Qianxia Yu
Visiting Graduate Student
South China Botanical Garden
2019-2020
qy87@cornell.edu

Clarice Guan
MS Plant Biology – Awarded 2021
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Presidential Life Sciences Fellow
(they/them)
email

Dr. Jesus Martinez Gomez
PhD in Plant Biology Awarded 2022
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Cornell Dean’s Fellow
UC Berkeley Chancellors Fellow;
Hellman Graduate Fellow
Currently: NSF and UC Presidential Postdoc, UC Berkeley (jmartinezg@berkeley.edu)

Dr. Adriana Hernandez
PhD in Plant Biology Awarded 2022
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Lewis and Clark Field Scholar
Atkinson Center for Sustainability Research Fellow
Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society Scholar
Schmittau-Novak Graduate Fellow
Yale Ciencia Academy Graduate Fellow
(she/her).

Postdoctoral Fellow; California Academy of Sciences
Currently: Associate Director for Research, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (Stanford University) (aherbotany@gmail.com)

Heather Phillips
Graduate Student in Plant Biology – Fall 2018
(she/her)
email

Currently: Postdoctoral fellow with Jose Dinneny, Stanford University

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Former Lab Managers and Research Associates

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Heather Driscoll
Lab Manager & Research Associate
Currently: Research Faculty, Norwich University

Roxana Yockteng
Research Associate / Lab Manager
Associate Specialist in Plant Evolution
Currently: Researcher at Agrosavia
ryockteng@berkeley.edu

Kelsie Morioka
Undergraduate Researcher
Lab Manager/Technician
Currently: Lab Manager, Blackman Lab, UC Berkeley
kelsiemorioka@gmail.com

Maria Pinilla Vargas
Lab manager and research technician
(she/her)
mp2232@cornell.edu

Gisel De La Cerda
NSF Post-baccalaureate Research Fellow
2021 BS in Environmental Science, UC Berkeley

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Former Postdoctoral Fellows

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Etelvina Gandara
Postdoctoral Fellow
UC MEXUS Postdoctoral Fellow

Mary Guisinger
Postdoctoral Fellow

Nisrine Machaka-Houri
Postdoctoral Fellow / Visiting Scholar
nmachaka@gmail.com

Vincent Merckx
Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently: Research Leader of the Netherlands Centre for Biodiversity (NCB Naturalis) at Leiden (NL)

Alma Pineyro Nelson
Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently: Professor Metropolitan Autonomous University
almapineyro@gmail.com

Eduardo Ruiz Sanchez
UC Mexus Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently: Associate Professor, Univ. de Guadelajara
ruizsanchez.eduardo@gmail.com

Will Iles
Postdoctoral Fellow
Currently: lecturer and researcher, University of British Colombia
will.jd.iles@gmail.com

Samuel Vanden Abeele
BAEF Postdoctoral Fellow
(he/him)
sv467@cornell.edu

Eugenio Valderrama
Postdoctoral Researcher
(he/him)
email

Shayla Salzman
Undergraduate apprentice, UC Berkeley
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Collections-based research at Cornell University
Currently: Assistant Professor, University of Georgia Department of Entomology
(she/her)
sms728@cornell.edu
Shayla’s personal webpage

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Distinguished Visiting Scholars

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Mohammad Reza Dadpour
Visiting Scientist
Professor, University of Tabriz
mr.dadpour@berkeley.edu

Elena Alvarez-Buylla
Visiting Scientist
Miller Visiting Professor
eabuylla@gmail.com

Wagner Campos Otoni
Visiting Scientist
UF Viçosa, Brasil

Huanfang Liu
Visiting Scientist
Visiting Researcher
hfliu@scbg.ac.cn

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Former Undergraduate Researchers

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Jennifer Bartlau
Undergraduate Researcher

Shayla Salzman
Undergraduate Researcher, Technician
Currently: Assistant Professor, University of Georgia.  Completed PhD (Harvard University with Dr. Naomi Pierce).

Andrew Brown
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Running marathons and in Medical School

Chrstian Cabuslay
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR – MEB Honor’s Degree 2016
Currently: Graduate Student, Temple University

Hillary Cooper
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Graduate Student at Arizona State University, NSF IGERT Fellow

Olivia Cope
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR
Currently: Graduate Student, U. Wisconsin-Madison

Sara Fraley
Undergraduate Researcher

Claudia Garcia
Undergraduate Researcher
McNair Scholar

Shalika Gupta
Undergraduate Researcher
ES Thesis on ENM in Heliconia

Claudia Henriquez
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Lab Manager and Research Associate, UCLA (PhD from Washington University, St. Louis)

Colin Hill
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Medical Doctor at USC

Julie Huston
Undergraduate Researcher

Christina Johnson
Undergraduate Researcher
-received her PhD from Miami of Ohio
-collections curator with NASA

Esther Kim
Undergraduate Researcher

Eli Koral
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: aspiring plant morphologist…

Neha Kumar
Undergraduate Researcher
URAP
neha.kumar@berkeley.edu

Laura Lagomarsino
Undergraduate Researcher, David’s Scholar
-PhD from Harvard (Chuck Davies)
-NSF Postdoc (MoBot)
Currently: Associate Professor and Herbarium Director, LSU

Felicia Lee
Undergraduate Researcher
feliciaklee@berkeley.edu

Irene Liao
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR – GPB Honor’s and Departmental Citation 2010
PhD (2020) from Duke University
Currently: NSF Plant Genome Postdoc @ UCLA

Michelle Liu
Undergraduate Researcher
URAP – MCB Honor’s Degree 2016
myxliu@berkeley.edu

Lynn Ly
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR – GPB Honor’s Degree 2016
lynnly1200@berkeley.edu

Emily Markham
Undergraduate Researcher

Cameron Musser
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR
camileigh@berkeley.edu

Jared Nathanson
Undergraduate Researcher
URAP & SURF/Rose Hill; Honors
jarnathanson@berkeley.edu

Grady Pierroz
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR
gradypierroz@berkeley.edu

Román Ramos Báez
Undergraduate Researcher
SPUR
Graduate student at University of Washington, HHMI Gilliam Fellow
Currently: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Chicago

Chris Sangster
Undergraduate Researcher

Stacy Shen
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: USC Medical School class of 2017

Sankar Sridaran
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Medical Doctor, UCSB (MD from Case Western)

Sarah Starkey
Undergraduate Researcher

Crystal Sun
Undergraduate Researcher

Miranda Sun
Undergraduate Researcher
Honor’s MCB
mirandasun@berkeley.edu

Susana Torres
Undergraduate Researcher

Debra Wang
Undergraduate Researcher

Yizhuo Wang
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Graduate Student in Public Health, Columbia University

Josephine Wong
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Research and quality control at BioRad

Ben Wong
Undergraduate Researcher

Amy Wray
Undergraduate Researcher

Joyce Jiao Xue
Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: on her way to Med School (class of 2017)

Katharine Yu
Undergraduate Researcher
URAP
Office: 510.642.6731
katharine.z.yu@berkeley.edu

Amy Yu
Undergraduate Researcher

Annie Zell
Undergraduate Researcher
SMART : GPB/IB 2017
Currently: Graduate Student in Plant Ecology

Ioana Anghel
Researcher
Volunteer
Currently: PhD student at UCLA with Felipe Zapata

Valerie Lavenburg
Undergraduate Researcher
valeriel@berkeley.edu

Molly Ng
Laboratory Technician and Research Assistant
Currently: NSF Graduate Research fellow with Selena Smith, UMich

Maria Eduarda (Duda) Maldaner
Visiting Undergraduate Researcher
maldanerme@gmail.com
Zhaoqi Wang
Plant Sciences – 2020

Jessica Dobler
Biology – 2020

Rosemary Glos
Senior Thesis: Comparative analysis of cycad (Zamia) leaf anatomy
Plant Sciences Major – 2020
Currently: Graduate student, University of Michigan

Iriel Edwards
Environmental Science and Sustainability – 2020
Currently: Farm Manager, Jubilee Justice

Irving Jason Rose
Morphological evolution of
underground organs in the
Asparagales
Biology Major  – 2021
RCPRS Fellow
ijr23@cornell.edu

Dariana Argueta-Zamora
Calochortus biodiversity
Biology – 2022

Aaliyah Holliday
Tempo and mode of inflorescence evolution in Asparagales.
Biology – 2021
Dextra Award

Avi Simon
Biological Sciences – 2022

Aryaman Saksena
Biological Sciences – 2022

Tara Atluri
Biological Sciences – 2025
Tara was a passionate and gifted botanist, artist and writer.  She was taken from us much to early, and we still mourn her absence while praising her ongoing and pervasive presence.  In 2023, we started a summer internship in her honor at the Bailey Hortorium Herbarium.  Please take some time to learn more about her life, joy, and impact.

Nola Rettenmaier
Honors Thesis; Biological Sciences – 2023

Nicholas Rocha
Entomology & Plant Science – 2023

Camryn Turner
Plant Sciences – 2025