Ana successfully defended her dissertation on July 29, 2021, bringing her highly productive PhD in the Olmstead Lab to a close! Her research focused on the evolution of Andean aquatic plants in northern South America, with most of her research being conducted in her home country of Colombia. In her own words, she was practicing “extreme botany” which involved rafting and collecting plants in white water rapids (including some impressive footage). In particular, she was interested in using genomic data to determine the role the uplift of the Andes played in the evolutionary history of two plant genera (Marathrum and Ludwigia). Ultimately, she showed that not all aquatic plants responded the same to the topographic changes associated with the Andean uplift, but the impact has been profound. If you want to read more about her impressive work, you’re in luck because nearly all of it has already been published (https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2019.01035; https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.17649). Ana will soon be continuing her academic career as a postdoctoral researcher at Louisiana State University with Dr. Laura Lagomarsino. Follow along with her burgeoning career through her website or Twitter.
