Who we are

The most valuable products of our lab are the people who train here and move on to contribute to science and society in many different ways.  We are actively engaged in training the next generation of scientists at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral level. 

The lab is composed of individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, orientations, and outlooks, all committed to the study of flexible and adaptive plant development. We seek to approach the difficult task of understanding biology with humility and open minds, recognizing that the path may have detours and roadblocks, but remaining optimistic that through brave experimentation and much thought and discussion, we can arrive at something approximating the truth.

Towards this end, one goal is to foster an inclusive, respectful, fun, and intellectually rigorous environment that can help everyone succeed, and reach their full potential as individuals. Trainees are mentored one-on-one, in small group settings and as part of a large lab group. We are part of the plant biology and developmental biology communities at Stanford.

The lab mentoring culture focuses on broad consideration of the literature and the use of hypotheses and working models to guide the design and interpretation of individual experiments. Communicating scientific ideas through writing and oral presentations (in person and online) is one of the key skills to acquire and we provide support and extensive feedback on these. Lab trainees present their work at local, national or international meetings, and in high-quality publications. We are committed to making data accessible and are supporters of preprints and open access publishing. Beyond our direct scholarly interests, we are interested in making science accessible to those historically excluded from participation, and considering the role of plants and plant biology in human-centered ecosystems and the planet.