Carlos O. Miller Fellowship

2025 Miller Fellow: Zoe Hert

Zoe is a Ph.D. student in the Moyle Lab, broadly interested in the genomics of diversification. For her dissertation, she is investigating the mechanisms and history of fruit color evolution in nightshades (Solanum), with a particular focus on wild Galápagos tomatoes. She uses population genomics and phylogenetic comparative methods to examine this trait evolution across multiple scales. In addition, Zoe enjoys teaching and mentoring student researchers. She says it’s so exciting to see students build their computational skillset and then apply these skills to address biological questions.

2025 Miller Fellow: Rory King

Rory is a Ph.D. candidate in the GCDB program and a member of Dr. Sidney Shaw's lab. His overarching interests lie in understanding the mechanisms by which plants regulate their growth and development to adapt to changes in their environment. Currently, he is using the gene WDL4 to study the genetic mechanisms that underlie plant growth responses to elevated temperature. After completing his Ph.D., he hopes to remain in academia in order to continue his research as well as train future generations of plant scientists.

2025 Miller Fellow: Michael Kwakye

Michael is a second-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Luke Nikolov's lab. The lab studies flower development, with special focus given to the nectary. This award will fund his work for the upcoming academic year as Michael continues his thesis project, which aims to untangle how the genes required for nectar production in Arabidopsis thaliana are regulated.

2025 Miller Fellow: Timothy Cioffi

Timothy is a Ph.D. student in Sidney Shaw's Lab where he studies the organization of cortical microtubules in plant cells. He enjoys performing and presenting his research and spending time with his fiancée and two children. He will use this fellowship to focus on the completion of his thesis project. Timothy plans to search for post-doctoral positions following graduation to continue investigating how plants grow and develop at the molecular level.

2025 Miller Fellow: Madison McReynolds

Madison is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Shaw lab studying plant cortical microtubule array organization. Outside of lab, she's looking forward to continuing her work with the grad worker’s coalition, gardening, and caring for her pets (one cat, two geckos, fish, and shrimp).