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Thomas, Elizabeth

What brought you to UGA? A few things attracted me to UGA, beginning with the faculty. There are many faculty at UGA who have interests aligned with mine, and who I would be interested to work with. I also really value the interdisciplinary focus and collaboration between the different plant-focused (or not) departments here… not to mention the fact there are multiple plant-focused departments. Because my background has been working with botanical gardens and I plan to continue doing so after graduation, UGA’s affiliation with the State Botanical Garden of Georgia was also a big draw to me. Also, I like how Athens is situated geographically; you can easily reach the Blue Ridge Mountains or the Coastal Plain for a day trip, meaning easy accessibility to a huge diversity of plant communities.

What are your research/study interests? I’m interested in plant conservation genetics, population genetics/genomics, biogeography, and ecology, and how these can intersect to inform conservation strategies. Right now, I’m focusing on how population genetic diversity of Chamaecrista fasciculata is distributed across environmental and geographic space.

What has been a benefit of being part of IPS?/How did it help you select your program? Rotating through different labs definitely helped me get to know more people in the department (or other departments!), and get a feel for different lab cultures and expectations. Being able to talk to more graduate students through these rotations helped me navigate what might be a good fit for me.

What are your career goals? As of right now, I would like to either be a researcher or curator at a conservation-focused botanical garden or a restoration/conservation nonprofit org like the SE Grasslands Institute. I’m also interested in a research/curatorial role at the USDA or similar government agency.

Who is your major professor? Dr. Jill Anderson, co-advised with Dr. Jenny Cruse-Sanders.