Left to right: Lucas Albano (postdoc), Seema Sheth, Kaleb Goff (Ph.D. student), Annabel Lewis (Ph.D. student), Mataeus Funderburk (undergrad), Cristina Payst (undergrad), Eve Eddy (undergrad), Catherine Laufenberg (undergrad)
Current lab members
Seema Sheth
Associate Professor
Seema joined the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University in January 2018. Previously, Seema did postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and the University of Minnesota, and completed her Ph.D. at Colorado State University.
Seema is also the Science Director of GLORIA Great Basin, a non-profit organization that is part of the the international GLORIA effort to study the effects of climate change on alpine plants.
E-mail: [email protected]
CV
Associate Professor
Seema joined the Department of Plant & Microbial Biology at North Carolina State University in January 2018. Previously, Seema did postdoctoral research at UC Berkeley and the University of Minnesota, and completed her Ph.D. at Colorado State University.
Seema is also the Science Director of GLORIA Great Basin, a non-profit organization that is part of the the international GLORIA effort to study the effects of climate change on alpine plants.
E-mail: [email protected]
CV
Lucas Albano
Postdoctoral Associate (2024 - present)
Lucas completed his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto in 2024. He is interested in all things plants, and has conducted undergraduate research in agriculture (plant-microbe interactions), M.Sc. research in plant ecology (responses to permafrost thaw), and Ph.D. research in plant evolutionary ecology (plant-herbivore interactions and responses to climate warming and species introduction). Lucas is building upon his passion for understanding plants by studying adaptation and evolutionary rescue in response to ongoing environmental change using a resurrection study with Mimulus cardinalis.
Postdoctoral Associate (2024 - present)
Lucas completed his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto in 2024. He is interested in all things plants, and has conducted undergraduate research in agriculture (plant-microbe interactions), M.Sc. research in plant ecology (responses to permafrost thaw), and Ph.D. research in plant evolutionary ecology (plant-herbivore interactions and responses to climate warming and species introduction). Lucas is building upon his passion for understanding plants by studying adaptation and evolutionary rescue in response to ongoing environmental change using a resurrection study with Mimulus cardinalis.
Lillie Pennington
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (2023 - present)
Lillie is an NSF postdoc fellow at the University of Georgia with Jill Anderson as her primary advisor and Seema and Liana Burghardt (Penn State) as co-advisors. She is interested in how adaptive responses vary across a species range. Chamaecrista fasciculata, the partridge pea, is the focus of Lillie's post-doctoral research. She is conducting a range-wide survey of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria that colonize the nodules the plant forms on its roots. Lillie is also investigating the extent of local adaptation to local bacterial communities, as well as the impact of climate change on this symbiosis. Lillie earned her degree in the Sexton Lab at UC Merced studying drought effects on natural populations across the range of the cutleaf monkeyflower, Erythranthe laciniata.
Lillie's website
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow (2023 - present)
Lillie is an NSF postdoc fellow at the University of Georgia with Jill Anderson as her primary advisor and Seema and Liana Burghardt (Penn State) as co-advisors. She is interested in how adaptive responses vary across a species range. Chamaecrista fasciculata, the partridge pea, is the focus of Lillie's post-doctoral research. She is conducting a range-wide survey of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria that colonize the nodules the plant forms on its roots. Lillie is also investigating the extent of local adaptation to local bacterial communities, as well as the impact of climate change on this symbiosis. Lillie earned her degree in the Sexton Lab at UC Merced studying drought effects on natural populations across the range of the cutleaf monkeyflower, Erythranthe laciniata.
Lillie's website
Kaleb Goff
Ph.D. Student (2021 - present)
Kaleb completed his B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. During his undergrad, Kaleb investigated ecogeographic speciation in sister species of the genus Clarkia. During several seasons working as a Park Ranger-Naturalist in Yosemite National Park, he developed a keen interest in the ecology, evolution and conservation of high elevation plants. Kaleb is currently collaborating with GLORIA Great Basin and conducting his own experiments to better understand the current and future impacts of the anthropogenic climate crisis on alpine plant communities in California and Nevada.
E-mail: [email protected]
Ph.D. Student (2021 - present)
Kaleb completed his B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. During his undergrad, Kaleb investigated ecogeographic speciation in sister species of the genus Clarkia. During several seasons working as a Park Ranger-Naturalist in Yosemite National Park, he developed a keen interest in the ecology, evolution and conservation of high elevation plants. Kaleb is currently collaborating with GLORIA Great Basin and conducting his own experiments to better understand the current and future impacts of the anthropogenic climate crisis on alpine plant communities in California and Nevada.
E-mail: [email protected]
Annabel Lewis
Ph.D. Student (2024 - present)
Annabel completed her B.S. in Biology at Davidson College in 2023. While there, she studied germination impediments and requirements in the sister species Chamaecrista fasciculata and Chamaecrista nictitans. She spent a year as a Research Associate at Colorado State University before joining the Sheth Lab in Fall 2024. Her research interests lie in using intraspecies variation data to forecast population dynamics in response to climate change.
Ph.D. Student (2024 - present)
Annabel completed her B.S. in Biology at Davidson College in 2023. While there, she studied germination impediments and requirements in the sister species Chamaecrista fasciculata and Chamaecrista nictitans. She spent a year as a Research Associate at Colorado State University before joining the Sheth Lab in Fall 2024. Her research interests lie in using intraspecies variation data to forecast population dynamics in response to climate change.
Eve Eddy
Undergraduate Researcher (2025 - present)
Eve is currently pursuing degrees in Plant Biology and Environmental Sciences and hopes to learn more about how plants exist and survive in their environments. Before and after graduation she plans to learn more about plant ecology and how ecological principles can be used to preserve and revitalize native species. Besides school, Eve loves to go see plants in the wild and appreciates outdoor adventures of all kinds, as long as she can stop and take pictures!
Undergraduate Researcher (2025 - present)
Eve is currently pursuing degrees in Plant Biology and Environmental Sciences and hopes to learn more about how plants exist and survive in their environments. Before and after graduation she plans to learn more about plant ecology and how ecological principles can be used to preserve and revitalize native species. Besides school, Eve loves to go see plants in the wild and appreciates outdoor adventures of all kinds, as long as she can stop and take pictures!
Everett Strain
Undergraduate Researcher (2025 - present)
Everett is a plant biology major interested in plant evolution and systematics, especially in the context of changing environments. Everett loves live music, hiking, backpacking, and anything involving being in unfamiliar areas.
Undergraduate Researcher (2025 - present)
Everett is a plant biology major interested in plant evolution and systematics, especially in the context of changing environments. Everett loves live music, hiking, backpacking, and anything involving being in unfamiliar areas.
Anika Vaidya
Undergraduate Researcher (2025 - present)
Anika Vaidya is a first year Plant Biology student who loves learning anything about plants. She hopes to research plant conservation, as well as study native and nonnative species in the future. Outside of school, she loves to read, go hiking, and take care of her many plants!
Undergraduate Researcher (2025 - present)
Anika Vaidya is a first year Plant Biology student who loves learning anything about plants. She hopes to research plant conservation, as well as study native and nonnative species in the future. Outside of school, she loves to read, go hiking, and take care of her many plants!
Marissa Strebler
Field Technician (2025)
Marissa graduated from San Diego State University in 2023 with her B.S. in Biology with an Ecology Emphasis. Her undergraduate research focused primarily on predator/prey interactions seen between prairie rattlesnakes and Ord’s kangaroo rats using tri-axial accelerometry data. Following graduation, she worked for multiple seasons as a field technician in the Flores-Renteria and Sheth Labs where her tasks ranged from collecting stomatal conductance measurements to gathering fitness data with Mimulus cardinalis. Outside of her work, she enjoys going for long hikes in unfavorable weather conditions, birding with friends, and reading.
Field Technician (2025)
Marissa graduated from San Diego State University in 2023 with her B.S. in Biology with an Ecology Emphasis. Her undergraduate research focused primarily on predator/prey interactions seen between prairie rattlesnakes and Ord’s kangaroo rats using tri-axial accelerometry data. Following graduation, she worked for multiple seasons as a field technician in the Flores-Renteria and Sheth Labs where her tasks ranged from collecting stomatal conductance measurements to gathering fitness data with Mimulus cardinalis. Outside of her work, she enjoys going for long hikes in unfavorable weather conditions, birding with friends, and reading.
Former lab members
Sahalie Pittman
Field Technician (2025)
Sahalie was a post-bac field technician in the Sheth and Angert labs. She helped collect long-term demographic data in natural populations across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower.
Field Technician (2025)
Sahalie was a post-bac field technician in the Sheth and Angert labs. She helped collect long-term demographic data in natural populations across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower.
Kyla Schmitt
Field Technician (2025)
Kyla was a post-bac field technician in the Sheth and Angert labs. She helped collect long-term demographic data in natural populations across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower.
Field Technician (2025)
Kyla was a post-bac field technician in the Sheth and Angert labs. She helped collect long-term demographic data in natural populations across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower.
Cristina Payst
Undergraduate Researcher (2023 - 2025)
Cristina is a Biology student with a concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She loves everything to do with plants and animals and hopes to pursue a career in conservation. In her free time, she can usually be found taking care of her plants, knitting, or crocheting!
Undergraduate Researcher (2023 - 2025)
Cristina is a Biology student with a concentration in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. She loves everything to do with plants and animals and hopes to pursue a career in conservation. In her free time, she can usually be found taking care of her plants, knitting, or crocheting!
Mataeus Funderburk
Undergraduate Researcher (2022 - 2025)
Current position (beginning in Fall 2025): Ph.D. student
Gilbert Lab, Michigan State University
Undergraduate Researcher (2022 - 2025)
Current position (beginning in Fall 2025): Ph.D. student
Gilbert Lab, Michigan State University
Catherine Laufenberg
Undergraduate Researcher (2023 - 2025)
Current position: Plant Conservation Technician
North Carolina Botanical Garden
Undergraduate Researcher (2023 - 2025)
Current position: Plant Conservation Technician
North Carolina Botanical Garden
Sulma Correa
Undergraduate Researcher (2024)
Undergraduate Researcher (2024)
Derek Delong
Field Technician (2024)
Derek was a post-bac field technician in the Sheth and Angert labs. He helped collect long-term demographic data in natural populations across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower.
Field Technician (2024)
Derek was a post-bac field technician in the Sheth and Angert labs. He helped collect long-term demographic data in natural populations across the geographic range of the scarlet monkeyflower.
Maggie Evans
Field Technician (2024)
Current position (beginning in Fall 2025): Ph.D. student
LaManna Lab, Marquette University
Maggie earned her B.S. in Environmental Science with an emphasis on Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecology from Western Washington University in 2022. Following graduation, she gained extensive field experience across diverse ecosystems, including the California and Oregon deserts, forests, and riparian systems through the Sheth and Angert Labs. Her other work has taken her into old-growth temperate forests in Oregon, tropical mountain watersheds in Hawaii, and various forest and desert ecosystems throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her doctoral research will investigate how biotic interactions influence environment-diversity relationships and ecosystem functions, with a particular focus on plant community responses to environmental change, population dynamics, legacy effects, and conspecific interactions.
Field Technician (2024)
Current position (beginning in Fall 2025): Ph.D. student
LaManna Lab, Marquette University
Maggie earned her B.S. in Environmental Science with an emphasis on Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecology from Western Washington University in 2022. Following graduation, she gained extensive field experience across diverse ecosystems, including the California and Oregon deserts, forests, and riparian systems through the Sheth and Angert Labs. Her other work has taken her into old-growth temperate forests in Oregon, tropical mountain watersheds in Hawaii, and various forest and desert ecosystems throughout the Pacific Northwest. Her doctoral research will investigate how biotic interactions influence environment-diversity relationships and ecosystem functions, with a particular focus on plant community responses to environmental change, population dynamics, legacy effects, and conspecific interactions.
Robin Bingham
Visiting Scholar (2024)
Robin is an evolutionary ecologist interested in the areas of plant-animal interactions, the evolution of plant defense, and the role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptive evolution. Her recent preoccupation is with the potential for plants to adapt rapidly to climate change and in understanding the evolutionary mechanisms behind that process. Robin visited in Spring 2024 during her sabbatical from Western Colorado University where she is a Professor of Biology. At Western her focus is teaching plant biology and mentoring undergraduate students in research. In her free time, she enjoys human powered aerobic activities appropriate to the season or you can find her at the barn for equine companionship. She recently began learning to play the fiddle and dusted off her knitting needles.
Visiting Scholar (2024)
Robin is an evolutionary ecologist interested in the areas of plant-animal interactions, the evolution of plant defense, and the role of phenotypic plasticity in adaptive evolution. Her recent preoccupation is with the potential for plants to adapt rapidly to climate change and in understanding the evolutionary mechanisms behind that process. Robin visited in Spring 2024 during her sabbatical from Western Colorado University where she is a Professor of Biology. At Western her focus is teaching plant biology and mentoring undergraduate students in research. In her free time, she enjoys human powered aerobic activities appropriate to the season or you can find her at the barn for equine companionship. She recently began learning to play the fiddle and dusted off her knitting needles.
MC Moazed
Field Technician (2023)
MC helped establish the PERSIST common gardens and led phenology data collection in the southern garden.
Field Technician (2023)
MC helped establish the PERSIST common gardens and led phenology data collection in the southern garden.
Lindsay Villano
Field Technician (2023)
Lindsay helped collect fitness data for the PERSIST project.
Field Technician (2023)
Lindsay helped collect fitness data for the PERSIST project.
James (Nathan) Ross
Field Technician (2023)
Nathan helped collect data and seeds for the Partridge Peaple project.
Field Technician (2023)
Nathan helped collect data and seeds for the Partridge Peaple project.
Sylvie Amstutz
Field Technician (2023)
Field Technician (2023)
Sophie Meng
Undergraduate Researcher (2022 - 2023)
Current position: Research Assistant
Morris Lab, Duke University
Undergraduate Researcher (2022 - 2023)
Current position: Research Assistant
Morris Lab, Duke University
Emma Wilson
Undergraduate Researcher (2021 - 2022)
Undergraduate Researcher (2021 - 2022)
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Malia Reiss
Field Technician (2022)
Field Technician (2022)
Magdalene Lo
Field Technician (2021)
Current position: M.S. student
Grossenbacher Lab, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Field Technician (2021)
Current position: M.S. student
Grossenbacher Lab, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Emma Vtipilthorpe
Ph.D. Student (2020 - 2021)
M.R. (non-thesis master's) student (2019-2020)
Undergraduate researcher (2018-2019)
Current position: Irrigation Specialist
CBRE Global Workplace Solutions
Ph.D. Student (2020 - 2021)
M.R. (non-thesis master's) student (2019-2020)
Undergraduate researcher (2018-2019)
Current position: Irrigation Specialist
CBRE Global Workplace Solutions
Emily Powell
Undergraduate Researcher (2021)
Current position: Ph.D. student
Soybean Breeding and Genetics Laboratory, University of Georgia
Undergraduate Researcher (2021)
Current position: Ph.D. student
Soybean Breeding and Genetics Laboratory, University of Georgia
Aeran Coughlin
Lab Manager (2019 - 2021)
Current position: Ph.D. student
Wright Lab, Duke University
Lab Manager (2019 - 2021)
Current position: Ph.D. student
Wright Lab, Duke University
Devin Adas
Undergraduate Researcher (2021)
Undergraduate Researcher (2021)
Daisy Ryan
Undergraduate Researcher (2020 - 2021)
Current position: GIS Technician
Bolton and Menk, Inc.
Undergraduate Researcher (2020 - 2021)
Current position: GIS Technician
Bolton and Menk, Inc.
Mia Wiegmann
Undergraduate Researcher (2018 - 2021)
Current position: Medical student
University of North Carolina's School of Medicine
Undergraduate Researcher (2018 - 2021)
Current position: Medical student
University of North Carolina's School of Medicine
Aleah Querns
M.S. Student (2018-2020)
Current position: Ph.D. student
Louthan Lab, Kansas State University
M.S. Student (2018-2020)
Current position: Ph.D. student
Louthan Lab, Kansas State University
Rachel Wooliver
Postdoctoral Associate (2018-2020)
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Jagadamma Lab, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Rachel's website
Postdoctoral Associate (2018-2020)
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Associate
Jagadamma Lab, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Rachel's website
Mariah Kidd
Undergraduate Researcher (2019-2020)
Undergraduate Researcher (2019-2020)
Brooke Caldwell
Research Technician/Undergraduate Researcher (2019-2020)
Research Technician/Undergraduate Researcher (2019-2020)
Natalie Gold
Undergraduate Researcher (2019)
Undergraduate Researcher (2019)
Jessie Torres
Undergraduate Researcher (2018-2019)
Undergraduate Researcher (2018-2019)
Collin Yurish
Undergraduate Researcher (2018)
Undergraduate Researcher (2018)
Irena Brglez
Lab Manager (2018)
Lab Manager (2018)
*** if you are a former Sheth lab member and have updates to share, please get in touch with Seema. We love hearing from you!!! ***
