Hi, my name is Madison, and I started my Ph.D. program in Biological Sciences at Texas Tech University under Dr. Matt Johnson in the Fall of 2021. Growing up, my father had a farm in northwest Missouri, so I was constantly surrounded by nature. I fell in love with the outdoors and learning all I could about wildlife and plants.

I received my bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia where I worked as an undergraduate research assistant under Dr. Gary Johnson. This was where I first became interested in genetics and considered pursuing it as a career path. I continued in a master’s program at San Francisco State University under Dr. Jason T. Cantley. My thesis on “Exploring evolutionary adaptations of leaf heteroblasty in subspecific taxa of Hawaiian Chenopodium oahuense” investigated a recently-described, endangered Chenopodium taxon, further defining it as its own subspecies as well as documenting its heteroblastic leaf changes from juvenile to adulthood. I also became interested in bioinformatics and morphometrics, primarily in R.

At Texas Tech, my research focuses on the advancement of herbarium specimen uses in plant conservation. My projects include a comparison of genetic diversity and population structure of Guadalupe Mountains endemic plants to their widespread congeners, a natural history of the effects of global change on plants in the Guadalupe Mountains, a taxonomic resolution of North American Philadelphus, and creation of a database of Texas plant targeted sequences. I also work on both targeted sequencing and bioinformatic methods development. In my spare time, I enjoy hanging out with my cats, gardening, and hiking.