Evolutionary history of plant genomes
Elizabeth Stanton
Undergraduate Researcher
Epidemiology Major (School of Public Health)
Matthew Hahn
Faculty Mentor
Matthew Hahn (Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering)
Project Description
We will use large collections of DNA sequences to understand the history of plant species (primarily North American oaks). We aim to infer the timing of diversification among species, as well as any ongoing hybridization that may be occurring.
Technology or Computational Component
The project will involve learning to program in python and using high-performance computing resources in order to analyze large DNA datasets. Once these goals are achieved (which is fairly straightforward), a large number of algorithms for analyzing DNA sequence data become easy to use.