Avolio Lab
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    • Genetic Diversity of Urban Trees
    • Physiology of Trees
    • Weed Adaptation
    • Planting Resilient Cities
    • Grassland Adaptation
    • Konza Global Change Ecology
  • Lab Diversity
  • Publications
  • Baltimore Biodiversity
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Principal Investigator

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Meghan Avolio (click for more info)
Associate Professor
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Hometown: ​Croton-on-Hudson, New York
Education: ​Ph.D. from Yale University; M.S. from Fordham University; B.A. from Barnard College
Areas of Interest: Plant community ecology, global change, urban ecology, urban trees, grassland dynamics, adaptation, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, dominant species, plant traits, mycorrhizal fungi
Top books: War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy); The Museum of Innocence (Orhan Pamuk), The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dosteovsky); The Thursday Next series (Jasper Fforde); The Outlander series (Diana Gabaldon); The Ground Beneath Her Feet (Salman Rushdie); Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver), Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer), Transcendent Kingdom (Yaa Gyasi), and on and on and on…
Favorite Plant: Andropogon gerardii

Current Lab Members

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Gisselle Mejía
​Post-Doctoral Fellow

Hometown: Washington Heights (Northern Manhattan), New York
Education: Ph.D. from the City University of New York; M.S. from Michigan Technological University; B.A. from Case Western Reserve University
Areas of Interest: urban ecology, social-ecological systems, urban trees, forest ecology, biogeochemistry, trait ecology, conservation science, land-use change, environmental inequities, inclusive mentorship, critical pedagogy.
Top Books: The Monkey Wrench Gang (Edward Abbey), Ismael (Daniel Quinn), Children of Time series (Adrian Tchaikovsky), The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Tom Wolfe), Discordant Harmonies (Daniel B. Botkin), Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (Oliver Burkeman), The Accidental Buddhist (Dinty W. Moore)
Favorite Plant: Liriodendron tulipifera



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Beatriz Shobe
PhD Student


Hometown: Baltimore, MD
Education: M.S. from University of Maryland, Baltimore County; B.S. from University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Research Interests: Urban ecology, genetic diversity of urban trees, artificial and domestic selection, biodiversity of urban forest patches, urban forest patch dynamics 

Top Books: The Twentieth Wife (Indu Sundaresan), Braiding Sweetgrass (Ribin Wall Kimmerer), Children of Blood and Bone series (Tomi Adeyemi), The Red Tent (Anita Diamant), Domesticated: Evolution in a ManMade World (Richard Francis), The Sea Around Us (Rachel Carson), Chrysalis: Biography of Maria Sibylla Merian (Kim Todd)​
Favorite Plant: Hamamelis virginiana

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Samantha Votzke
PhD Student

Hometown: Tampa, Florida
Education: B.S. from Duke University
Areas of interest: Urban ecology, urban trees and soils, plant communities, protists
Top books:  Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (Annie Dillard), Outlander series (Diana Gabaldon), The Shining (Stephen King), The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), Kitchen (Banana Yoshimoto), A Moveable Feast (Ernest Hemingway), Desert Solitaire (Edward Abbey), The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)
Favorite Plant: Solanum lycopersicum​

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Gemma Watson
Lab Researcher


Hometown: Phoenix, Arizona
Education: Environmental Science at JHU
Areas of Interest: plant evolution, plant genetics,  through the lens of anthropogenic change and agriculture 
Top Books: The Overstory (Richard Powers), Catch-22 (Joseph Heller), Ulysses (James Joyce), House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielwski)​
Favorite Plant: Trifolium pratense



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Olivia Bond
Undergraduate


Hometown: Reston, Virginia
Education: Environmental Science at JHU
Areas of Interest: Biodiversity and evolution under anthropogenic changes, trees, birds​
Top Books: A Tale for the Time-Being (Ruth Ozeki), State of Wonder (Ann Patchett), The Underneath (Kathi Appelt)
​Favorite Plant: Ginkgo biloba


Lab Alumni


​Graduates
Eric Yee
PhD
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Smriti Pehim Limbu

PhD

​Postdoctoral Researchers
Jenny ​Cocciardi
​Post-Doctoral Fellow

Kaitlin Kimmel 
Post-Doctoral Fellow

Ava Hoffman 
Post-Doctoral Fellow

Lab Managers
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Olivia Arbogast
Kelsey Coates
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PhD Student ​   East Caroliona University

Allie Blanchette


​Undergraduates

​Stella Marti

Max Carroll
Ayla Frost

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​Vicki Li
Maddy Scott
​Bay Hanson

Hannah Ranft
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Samantha Lemmer
​Kaley Sten

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