I’m a botanist and biodiversity scientist with broad interests in phylogenetic systematics, taxonomy and floristics, evolution of adaptive traits, and biogeography. My research is collections-based with a focus on ferns of the American tropics.

I am curious about the macroevolutionary patterns of speciation, or, more specifically, how and why there is an unequal distribution of plant diversity on Earth. I am investigating this question at 2 different scales: flora-wide (the fern flora of the Chocó Biogeographic Region) and within a single lineage (Pleopeltis, Polypodiaceae). Read more about my research here. 

I'm currently a PhD candidate at the University of Vermont in the Testo lab, and my graduate research, supported by the NSF-funded Ferns of Colombia project, has enabled me to create new fern collections and curate herbarium collections throughout the US and Latin America. Working with botanists from around the world is the best part of this job, so please, if you're looking for a ferny collaborator, reach out!