Picture
The Plants & H2O Lab members in May 2021.
Image of the members of the Plants & H2O lab in 2011
Tori Cook, Jochen Schenk, Susana Espino, and Miriam Catalan in 2018

Current lab members


Graduate Students
  • Jessica Garcia Mora: Functions of amphiphilic lipids in the xylem apoplast of plants: A biomimetic study

Undergraduate Students
  • Samantha De Guzman: Positive xylem pressure in avocado and citrus
  • Vanessa Pieters: Mechanisms that cause positive pressure in avocado stems
  • Yu Zou: Swelling behavior of bamboo fiber bundles
  • Charmayne Zablan: Mechanisms that cause positive pressure in avocado stems

Some former Lab Members

  • Joseph Michaud (part-time lab manager 2017-2022; M.S. 2021), now at the USDA ARS Tree Fruit Research Laboratory
    in Hood River, OR.
  • Kerri Mocko (postdoc from 2019-2021; Assistant Professor at Weber State University in Utah since August 2022)
  • Miriam Catalan (M.S. 2018):  Plant-based measures of drought stress in avocado. (Now in PhD Program at Texas A&M University)
  • Victoria (Tori) Cook (M.S. 2018): Dissolved atmospheric gas in xylem and its relationship to embolisms. Now high school teacher in San Antonio, TX.
  • Susana Espino (M.S. 2008)  Research Scientist & Lab Manager from 2005 to 2017. Now Microbiology and Biotechnology Lab Coordinator at Santiago Canyon College. 
  • Donald Quick (M.S. 2016): Master's Thesis: Continuous measures of water status in deeply-rooted southern California chaparral shrub species. (Now high school science teacher at Rosemead High School. El Monte Union High School District, California).
  • Emily Wieber (SCERP Scholar; B.S. 2012, M.S. 2016):  Master's Thesis: Effects of regulated deficit irrigation on fruit yield, quality, and physiology of Washington Navel orange trees. (Now at the US Department of Agriculture and in the PhD program at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.)
  • Sarah Taylor-Laine (B.S. 2012, M.S. 2015): Master's Thesis: Diurnal and seasonal variation in non-structural carbohydrates in the chaparral shrub Malosma laurina. (Now Vice President, Science at Douglas Plant Health in Liberty, MO)
  • Nicole Vearrier (M.S. Biology 2006)   Master's Thesis: Ecology and potential invasiveness of Suaeda linifolia in the Great Basin Desert, USA
  • Andrea Vona (M.S. Environmental Studies 2006; now Section Head Sustainability Planning, County of Los Angeles, Department of Parks and Recreation)
  • Joy Polston-Barnes (M.S. Environmental Studies 2006)
  • Khoi Nguyen: Positive xylem pressure in trees
  • Anne Basilio: Imaging bamboo anatomy
  • Zoe Cuevas: Xylem lipids in aquatic and terrestrial plants
  • Gerardo Roldan: Measuring in situ conductance in avocado
  • Alec Hunt: Measuring in situ conductance in eucalypts
  • Jessica Garcia: Ionic effects on hydraulic conductance
  • Tatiana Melendres: Effects of surfactants on bubble formation in water under negative pressure
  • Ryan Cochoit: Modifications to stem psychrometers for plant water potential measurements in situ
  • Tilly Duong: Measuring in situ conductance in Malosma laurina
  • Joleen Bondoc: The role of fructans in xylem osmoregulation
  • Aissa Do: Hydrophobic proteins in xylem sap
  • Mellanda Orn: Xylem embolism repair in Eriogonum fasciculatum.
  • Neda Nima: Surfactant proteins in xylem sap
  • Elizabeth Hessom (SCERP Scholar; B.S. 2010, M.S. UC Riverside 2012).  Senior thesis: Xylem embolism repair in two chaparral shrubs, Malosma laurina and Ceanothus crassifolius. Now Associate Environmental Planner at the California Department of Conservation.
  • Daisha Ortega (SCERP Scholar; B.S. 2010): Senior thesis: Comparing plant water relations and hydraulics between two halophytic Mojave Desert shrub species. Now an MD and currently a medical resident in Glendale, CA.
  • Alejandra Mendez.  Research: Role of wood fiber cells in drought resistance of Southern California shrub species.
  • Lauren Velasco (SCERP Scholar; B.S. 2009): Ph.D. program in Botany & Plant Science at UC Riverside.  Research:  Comparison of drought tolerance in two Salvia species.
  • Christine Goedhart (SCERP Scholar; B.S. 2005.  Senior thesis: Does water-availability affect pathways of water transport in the shrub Eriogonum fasciculatum?):  Ph.D. 2010, UC Riverside. Now Science Education Specialist at the University of British Columbia.

Current collaborators
Past collaborators