{"id":13,"date":"2019-07-23T12:07:24","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T16:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/?page_id=13"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:28:31","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:28:31","slug":"postdoctoral-scientists","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/meet-the-lab-group\/postdoctoral-scientists\/","title":{"rendered":"Postdoctoral Scientists and Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sofie Varriano<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Sofie is examining the contributions of wild birds and pastured poultry to food safety risks and biocontrol on farms, with the goal of increasing farm management safety and sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cole Butler<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cole is examining how drought conditions can exacerbate pest outbreaks using whiteflies as a model. more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
\"Pedro<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pedro Rodrigues<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Pedro is our amazing research professional! He is an expert in gut microbiomes, particularly those of ants, and other molecular techniques. He collaborates with many people in lab on their projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Postdoc Alumni<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Jordan Croy<\/strong> (2022-2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan was broadly interested in how climate change will affect multi-trophic food webs. He explored how drought affects niche overlap among arthropod predators, and how this overlap in turn influences top-down control of crop pests. more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Scott<\/figure>
\n

Scott Clem<\/strong><\/strong> (2021-2023)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott was interested in ecology, behavior, and taxonomy of beneficial insects. His project involved examining continental-scale population genomics of hover flies (Syrphidae). more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>
\n

Mike Crossley<\/strong><\/strong> (2019-2021)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike was interested in the ecology and evolution of how herbivores transition from being friendly, benign natives to damaging crop pests. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Amanda<\/figure>
\n

Amanda Meier<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> (2018-2021)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amanda was interested in links between soil bacteria and fungi and plants\u2019 ability to defend themselves against herbivores.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Zhen<\/figure>
\n

Zhen \u201cDaisy\u201d Fu<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daisy led research in a broad range of areas, including microbial community ecology, the molecular basis of plant defense, and insect\/nematode population genetics. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Carmen<\/figure>
\n

Carmen Blubaugh<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> (2015-2017)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carmen examined interrelations among soil quality, plants\u2019 ability to defend themselves against herbivore attack, and biological control. more.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Chris<\/figure>
\n

Chris Phillips<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> (2013-2014)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris studied how biological control communities develop through time on organic farms. He now is an Assistant Professor of Entomology at the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Emily<\/figure>
\n

Emily Jones<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong> (2012-2013)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily worked at the interface between evolution and biodiversity-ecosystem function. She now is an editor at Nature Communications<\/em>. more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"David<\/figure>
\n

David Crowder<\/strong><\/strong> (2009-2012)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dave examined the importance of evenness, an often overlooked component of biodiversity. He stayed in the Entomology Department at WSU where he is an Associate Professor.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Randa<\/figure>
\n

Randa Jabbour <\/strong><\/strong> (2009-2010)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Randa studied the importance of entomopathogen biodiversity for natural pest control. Randa is an Assistant Professor of Agroecology at the University of Wyoming.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Deborah<\/figure>
\n

Deborah Finke<\/strong> (2006-2007)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debbie examined how consumer niche breadth mediates the relationship between predator diversity and biocontrol. She now is an Associate Professor in Plant Sciences at the University of Missouri.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Gary<\/figure>
\n

Gary Chang<\/strong> (2003-2005)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gary studied predator communities on potato farms. He is an Associate Professor of Biology at Gonzaga University. more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sofie Varriano Sofie is examining the contributions of wild birds and pastured poultry to food safety risks and biocontrol on farms, with the goal of increasing farm management safety and sustainability. Cole Butler Cole is examining how drought conditions can exacerbate pest outbreaks using whiteflies as a model. more Pedro Rodrigues Pedro is our amazing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":583,"featured_media":0,"parent":10,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-13","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/583"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1427,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13\/revisions\/1427"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/agroecology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}