Education

• M.S. | 2015 | Northwestern University, Plant Biology and Conservation

Research Interests

I am an evolutionary ecologist and geneticist. While I am interested in diverse areas of plant biology, I am captivated by questions concerning the evolutionary adaptations at the intersection of ecology and genomics. What we see with our eyes cannot be fully understood without evolutionary context, which requires genetic tools and meticulous experimental design. I seek to investigate questions that incorporate both ecological interactions and the evolutionary mechanisms driving them. Questions like my master’s thesis – how does the primary pollinator impact genetic differentiation of plant populations? – are the kinds of multifaceted topics that excite me. At the Wei Lab, I will work on the NSF project (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300058) to build synthetic microbial consortia for organismal resilience and reproducible ecosystem services under changing environments.

Select Publications

• Lewis, E. M., Fant, J. B., Moore, M. J., & Skogen, K. A. (2023). Hawkmoth and bee pollinators impact pollen dispersal at the landscape but not local scales in two species of Oenothera. American Journal of Botany, 110, e16156.
• Chang, H., Snow, A. A., Mutegi, E., Lewis, E. M., Heaton, E. A., & Miriti, M. N. (2018). Extent of pollen-mediated gene flow and seed longevity in switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.): Implications for biosafety procedures. Biomass and Bioenergy, 109, 114-124.
• Lewis, E. M., Fant, J. B., Moore, M. J., Hastings, A. P., Larson, E. L., Agrawal, A. A., & Skogen, K. A. (2016). Microsatellites for Oenothera gayleana and O. hartwegii subsp. filifolia (Onagraceae), and their utility in section Calylophus. Applications in Plant Sciences, 4, 1500107.