Lauren Ward

Lauren recently completed a B.S. in Evolution, Ecology, and Biodiversity at the University of California, Davis with research honors. As an undergraduate student, she worked with Dr. Jennifer Gremer and Dr. Marina LaForgia studying the seed traits of California grassland plant species. Her honors research thesis investigated the effect of various microbial communities on seed germination. She is broadly interested in how plant-microbe interactions influence ecosystem functions and shape our broader understanding of ecological theories. As a Dean’s Graduate Scholar, Lauren plans to elucidate the spatial and temporal processes that determine plant-microbe interactions.