Alverson Lab, University of Arkansas

Andrew Alverson, PhD

Andy Alverson
Ph.D. Plant Biology Graduate Program (2006), The University of Texas at Austin
M.S. Entomology, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (2000), Iowa State University
B.S. Biology (1997), Grand Valley State University
2023 - present Professor, University of Arkansas
2022 Visiting Research Fellow, Lund University
2018 - 2023 Associate Professor, University of Arkansas
2012 - 2018 Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas
2006 - 2011 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Indiana University
2001 - 2006 Graduate Research Assistant, The University of Texas at Austin
2000 - 2001 Biology and Chemistry Teacher, Fowlerville High School
2000 - 2001 Research Technician, Michigan State University
1998 - 2000 Graduate Research Assistant, Iowa State University
  • 21st Century Chair in Bioinformatics (2018 - present)
  • Simons Foundation Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution (2016 - 2019)
  • Grand Valley State University Distinguished Alumnus in Residence (2011)
  • Kathleen Drew-Baker prize for best article in European Journal of Phycology (2009)
  • The University of Texas Continuing Fellowship (Houston Endowment) (2005 - 2006)
  • Marion Elizabeth Eason Endowed Scholarship for the Study of Biology (2006)
  • Iowa State University Graduate Research Excellence Award (2000)

Current Members

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Kara Bledsoe
Undergraduate student

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Karolina Bryłka
Graduate student

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Kylee Dandini
Undergraduate student

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Wade Roberts
Postdoctoral researcher

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Elizabeth Ruck
Lab manager

Alumni

Annie Dickens
Undergraduate Student

Annie estimated the frequency of sexual reproduction in Stephanodiscus niagarae in Lake Fayetteville by tracking changes in cell-size over time. Annie graduated with honors in May 2016 and took a gap year before heading off to medical school.

Kala Downey
Graduate Student

Kala completed her PhD on salinity stress in diatoms in 2022. She works in the private sector.

Cory Gargas
Graduate Student

Cory completed his PhD in 2023, working on diatom–bacterial associations. Cory woks as a bioinformatician in the private sector.

Wilson Guillory
Undergraduate Student

Wilson graduated with Honors in May 2017 and moved to Carbondale, Illinois, to work on a Master's degree in EEB. Wilson's project on mitochondrial genome evolution in diatoms was published in Genome Biology and Evolution.

Jeric Harper
Research technician

Jeric was the lead technician on a project to increase the number and diversity of diatoms that can be genetically transformed. He finished in January 2017 and now works as a microbiologist in industry.

Jacob Harris
Undergraduate Student

Jake graduated with Honors in May 2017 and moved to New York City to get a Master's degree in biotechnology at NYU.

Kiley Jones
Undergraduate Student

Kiley worked on on the invasive diatom, Discostella asterocostata. She graduated in May 2015, went to medical school at UAMS, and is now a practicing physician.

Kathryn Judy
Graduate Student

Kathryn completed an MS degree in 2022, studying the short-term response to hypo-osmotic stress in diatoms. She is a scientiest at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Colton Kessenich
Graduate Student

Colton used transcriptome data to help tease apart the origin of diatom life history traits. He completed his MS in May 2014 and moved to St. Louis to work as a bioinformatician in industry.

Yufei Li
Undergraduate Student

For her Honors research, Yufei carried out a large-scale experiment on salinity tolerance across a broad diversity of diatoms. She graduated with honors in December 2016 and went to culinary school.

Samantha Linard
Undergraduate Student

Samantha graduated Summa Cum Laude in May 2016 and went on to medical school at the University of Missouri. Samantha's project describing the plastid genome of the diatom, Toxarium undulatum, was published in Current Genetics.

Jonathan Mishler
Undergraduate Student

Jonathan worked primarily with Joseph Herzog's lab the in Physics Department. His research used mathematical modeling to explore the photoic properties of diatom frustules. He published an article based on his thesis work. He graduated in May 2015 and moved to Bethesda.

Teofil Nakov
Postdoctoral researcher

Teo worked on comparative genomics and species diversification in diatoms.

Kameila Nedd
Undergraduate Student

Kameila documented the diatom flora of her native Grenada. She was the first, but hopefully not last, student from beautiful Grenada! Kameila graduated in May 2016.

Anastasiia Onyshchenko
Graduate Student

Anastasiia was a Fulbright Scholar from Ukraine who completed a Master's degree through a Fulbright Scholarship. She worked on the evolution of non-photosynthetic diatoms. She began a PhD program in Plant and Microbial Biosynthesis at Washington University in 2019.

Eveline Pinseel
Postdoc

Eveline worked as a postdoc from 2020–2024 as a postdoc with postdoctoral fellowships from the Fulbright Program and Simons Foundation. She worked on questions related to marine–freshwater transitions in diatoms. Eveline is now a professor at Ghent University in Belgium.

Katy Rose
Undergraduate Student

Katy studied different ways to cryopreserve diatom cultures. She graduated in May 2019 and started medical school at UAMS in Fall 2019.

Natalie Stocks

Natalie worked on questions related to marine–freshwater transitions in diatoms.

Rachel Ungar
Undergraduate Student

Rachel studied long-term associations between bacteria and diatoms. She graduated in May 2018 and entered Stanford University's PhD program in Genetics in August 2018.

Katjana Wiederkehr
Undergraduate Student

Katjana graduated with honors in May 2020 and moved to New York, NY, to start an MPH program in Epidemiology at Columbia University.

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