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Michele Dudash

Michele Dudash

Title

Department Head/Professor

Office Building

Edgar S. McFadden Biostress Lab

Office

138C

Mailing Address

McFadden Biostress Laboratory 138C
Natural Resource Management-Box 2140B
University Station
Brookings, SD 57007

Biography

As a first generation college graduate, I come from a large boisterous family from the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. I have always loved all kinds of biology and did not want to work with ailing humans or pets. I found my niche when starting graduate school at University of Illinois at Chicago and went to University of Michigan’s field station for summer field courses and research experiences that resulted in me learning about bumblebee foraging behavior and white pine seed dispersal. This experience laid the groundwork for my academic career path.

If you would like my CV or more information, please feel free to contact me at my SDState email address noted above.

Education

  • B.A. | Millersville State University
  • Ph.D. | University of Illinois at Chicago
  • Post-Doc | University of Toronto

Committees and Professional Memberships

  • American Society of Naturalists
  • Botanical Society of America
  • Ecological Society of America
  • Society for the Study of Evolution

Work Experience

  • Emeritus Professor, Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 2017 – present
  • Assistant, associate and full professor, Department of Botany/Department of Plant Biology/Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, 1989-2016.
  • Program director, National Science Foundation DEB Evolutionary Process Cluster, Aug. 2013-Aug. 2014.
  • Visiting scientist, CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra, Australia Nov. - Dec. 2007.
  • Full professor, Botanisk Institut, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. Leave of absence without pay from UMD, 2000-2001.
  • Visiting scientist, sabbatical, Institute of Cell, Animal, and Population Biology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland 1997-1998.

Areas of Research

  • Evolutionary Ecology
  • Evolution of plant mating systems
  • Plant pollinator interactions
  • Demography of populations
  • The role Inbreeding, Inbreeding Depression and Phenotypic Plasticity play in the evolution of plant populations. 
  • My research also contributes to baseline data that is utilized to help form successful conservation and restoration management plans for threatened taxa and habitats.

Department(s)

Related Links

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