I grew up in Wilmington Delaware along the Brandywine River, and enjoyed summers with family on farmland in both eastern and western Nebraska.  I received my undergraduate degrees in Biology, Psychology and Spanish from the University of Delaware, and my PhD from New York University as part of a joint program with the New York Botanical Garden and the American Museum of Natural History.  After working for the World Wildlife Fund as a program officer in Bolivia, I completed a postdoc at the Smithsonian Institution all of which have led to a passion for biodiversity science as it relates to conservation and landscape-level understanding of adaptation. From 2005-2017 I was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and taught General Evolution as well as an epic course in Plant Morphology.  In 2017 I moved to Cornell with my husband (professor in Entomology) and daughter (now a freshman at Ithaca High School).  

In addition to being the Barbara McClintock Professor in Plant Biology, I am currently Associate Dean of Faculty and Associate Director for Faculty Development, Equity and Inclusion for the School of Integrative Plant Science.

My lab focuses on studies in plant form and function. We use traditional morphological and developmental techniques combined with molecular genetics, comparative genomics and evolutionary biology to study the natural diversity of plants and to help better understand the forces creating and sustaining this diversity. Our research incorporates elements of systematics, developmental genetics and molecular evolution to study the patterns and processes associated with plant speciation and diversification. We take advantage of living and preserved collections to advance our research in plant systematics, biogeography, and developmental evolution.