Research Interests My research focuses on the genetics of the evolution of plant form using maize as our model system and quantitative genetics as our main analytical approach. Research Fields Evolutionary & Population Genetics, Plants Research Description: Our group is trying to understand the genetic basis of the evolution of new morphological traits in plants. How many genes contribute to the evolution of a new trait? Are these genes regulatory or structural? Do the alterations in these genes affect protein function or gene expression? Research in my laboratory addresses these and related questions using maize and its wild relatives as a model system.