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 its subspecies as well as documenting its heteroblastic leaf changes from juvenile to adulthood. At this time, I also became interested in bioinformatics and morphometrics, primarily in R.

At Texas Tech, my research broadly focuses on the advancement of techniques, methods, and tools for the utilization 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 over 100 years, a taxonomic resolution of North American Philadelphus taxa, and the creation of models to identify areas of high plant phylogenetic diversity in Texas using targeted sequences. To help address these topics, I also develop methods to increase the cost effectiveness and bioinformatic informativeness of targeted sequencing. I intend for these methods to benefit plant conservation through increasing access to scientific resources when financial resources are limited. In my spare time, I enjoy hanging out with my family, spending time in my garden, and hiking (mostly to look at the plants).