Ramona Flatz -

Ramona is research technician in the Smith lab, in charge of data curation, project oversight, and supervising daily lab functions. Ramona's received her Master's degree from Arizona State University in 2009. 

Current Students:

Sarah Burton -

Willamette Class of 2014, Sarah is an independent research student in the Smith Lab. Sarah's work examines the cost of yucca moth feeding on Joshua tree reproductive fitness.








Aaron Craig -

Willamette Class of 2016, Aaron is an independent research student in the Smith Lab. Aaron's research examines clinal variatiation in microsatellite allele frequencies within the Tikaboo Valley hybrid zone.




Annette Marinello -

Willamette class of 2015, Annette is an independent research student in the Smith Lab. Annette's research examines variation in floral morphology within the Tikaboo Valley hybrid zone.








Patrick Reynolds -

Willamette Class of 2015, Patrick was an SCRP student and an independent research student in the Smith Lab. Patrick's research examined floral morphology in hybrid Joshua trees from Tikaboo Valley.













Alex Schrimp -

Willamette Class of 2014, Alex was an SCRP student and an independent research student in the Smith Lab. Alex's work examined the factors that influence pollinator visitation in the Tikaboo Valley hybrid zone.












Colin Stewart -

Willamette Class of 2016, Colin was an SCRP student in Smith Lab. Collins research examines branching architecture and structural stability of hybrid Joshua trees.















Lab Alumni Class of 2013


Emily Bendall -

Willamette Class of 2013, Emily was a Senior Thesis student. Emily used phylogenetic methods to examine trait coevolution in yucca moths and their pollinators. Emily presented her thesis research at the Society for the Study of Evolution's 2013  meeting at Snowbird, Utah. Emily is currently looking at graduate programs.

Theresa Edwards -

Willamette class of 2013, Theresa was an SCRP student and an independent research student in  the Smith lab. Theresa's work examines population genetic signatures of recent demographic changes in Joshua trees.   

Dylan Goldade -

Willamette class of 2013, Dylan was a Wilson Scholar and a senior thesis writer in  the Smith lab. Dylan's work examined population genomics of Joshua Trees, and used natural populations to generate preliminary linkage map of the Joshua Tree Genome.   

Lab Alumni Class of 2012

Jessica Faust -

Willamette class of 2012, Jessica was a Senior Thesis student in the Smith Lab. Jessica's research examined allometric relationships between wing length (a proxy for body size) and ovipositor length in yucca moths.





Kate Gadek -

Willamette class of 2012, Kate was an SCRP student and an independent research student. Kate's project examines the impact of yucca moth  larval feeding damage on Joshua tree seed production. Kate is currently a graduate student in the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Thomas Hollowed -

Willamette Class of 2012, Tom     was a senior thesis writer in the Smith Lab. Tom examined the effects of variation in floral features on pollinator fitness.   Tom is currently a graduate         student in the School of Public     Health at Columbia University.

Christin Licata -

Willamette Class of 2012, Christin             was a senior thesis writer in the Smith         Lab. Christin's work examined the             cost of yucca moth feeding on Joshua         tree reproductive fitness. Christin is             currently a graduate student in the             School of Public Health at New York         University.





Jacob Munsen McGee

Tyler Starr -

Willamette class of 2012, Tyler was an SCRP student and an independent research student. Tyler's work examines patterns of hybridization and gene flow between yuccas. Tyler was the recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship in 2011, and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship in 2012. Tyler's research was recently published in Molecular Ecology. He is currently a graduate student in Joe Thornton's Lab at the University of Chicago.

Blythe Sloan Toninato -

Willamette Class of 2012, Blythe         was an independent research                 student in the Smith Lab. Blythe             examined host fidelity in yucca             moths using molecular                         diagnostics. Blythe is currently             searching for graduate programs           in Anthropology.











Lab Alumni Class of 2010

Jeff Collins -

Willamette class of 2010, Jeff was an SCRP student and a thesis student in the Smith lab. Jeff's thesis work uses data simulation and bionformatic approaches to study molecular evolution. Jeff received a Carson research grant  to support his work.