Research: My general research interests are in plant genetics and evolution.  My recent work has involved the use of DNA markers as tools for genetic analysis in wild plants and in garden pea.

My current research students and I are examining genetic variation in populations of invasive reed canary grass in our 300-acre Black Fork Wetland Preserve.  We use ISSRs (inter-simple sequence repeats) to detect genetic variation, a method that is helpful for organisms that are not yet well characterized genetically.
 
In another project, I developed gene-specific PCR markers for use in mapping a number of genes to their chromosome locations in the garden pea, Pisum sativum. Since the genetic map of pea is largely co-linear with closely related legumes such as lentil, this information is useful for researchers working in other crop species. This mapping work has the possibility for being extended by students wishing to gain experience in DNA techniques and analysis, as  DNA sequences for new genes continue to be added to Genbank, the public database.