The Simonin Lab

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  • Home
  • The Lab
  • Research
  • Join the Lab
  • Publications
  • Teaching

Lab Members

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PI: Kevin Simonin
Email: simonin@sfsu.edu
Office: Hensill Hall 438
Lab: Hensill Hall 445 

Google Scholar Profile
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ResearchGate Profile

Graduate Students:
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Fiona Duong 
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I'm interested in studying plant structure-function relationships and how water-use strategies and photosynthetic capacity affect cycad physiology and anatomy. I'd like to use herbarium specimens and garden samples to further investigate these traits, as well as using visual elements like microCT for STEM outreach and education purposes.
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Anjum Kaur Gujral
For my M.S. thesis, I am interested in assessing the relationship between plant community functional structure and community-level productivity across water table depth in degraded meadows. My goal is to identify species and their functional properties that are vital to the restoration of degraded landscapes and their ecosystem services.
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Caroline Erickson 
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I am a first year graduate student in the Simonin lab, and I plan to investigate plant water use strategies and leaf size across environmental gradients (including microclimates), based out of the Sierra Nevada Field Campus.
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Myriam Serrano
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​My goal is to understand the carbon storage mechanism in montane meadows through understanding the hydraulic activity of plant communities. I will be characterizing the water use strategies of dominant plant species in hydric (wet), xeric (dry), and mesic (moderate moisture) environments. I will also evaluate the impacts that plant communities have on carbon flux through time.
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Bellal Naderi  
​For my MS Thesis I will investigate circadian regulation of leaf level gas exchange within the Fern lineage. Specifically, I am interested in the evolution and ecological implications of circadian regulation of gas exchange across major groups of terrestrial plants.
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Maisie Borg
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Broadly speaking, I am interested in the intersection of botany and climate change with an emphasis on ecophysiology, biodiversity, conservation and ecology. For my MS thesis I am investigating the impact of elevated atmospheric CO
2 on the genome size and stomatal characteristics of California grassland species.  This research is being conducted in collaboration with the Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment at Stanford University.

Undergraduate Students:

Piper 
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Sterling Robinson
​Currently in my final semester at SFSU, some of the work I have done with the Simonin lab includes stomatal density measurements. As a transfer student from Chicago with an art background and a lifelong passion for plants, one of my goals since starting at SFSU has been to learn as much about California biodiversity, ecology, and flora as possible. Upon completion of my degree I plan to apply to graduate programs that focus on botany, although my interests are very wide-ranging, and I have not yet chosen a more specific focus.

Students from the Past (Lab Elders):
Tasha Kayatsky
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As a graduate student Tasha investigated the water use strategy of three co-occurring perennial Asteraceae within the northern Sierra Nevada; Balsamorhiza sagittata, Wyethia mollis and Helianthella californica.
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  • Kayatsky T, Parker T, Roddy AB, Simonin KA ( in  prep ) Differences in water use strategy between three co-occurring herbaceous perennial Asteraceae in the Northern Sierra Nevada.
Jenifer Mo - As a graduate student Jennifer investigated circadian regulation of stomatal conductance for three gymnosperm species Pinus ponderosa, Pseudostuga menziesii and Sequoia sempervirens; unlike many Angiosperms no circadian regulation was observed.
Karen Loucos - As a graduate student, Karen used stable oxygen isotopes to investigate pathways for water flow in leaves.
  • Loucos KE, Simonin KA, Song X, Barbour MM (2015) Observed relationships between leaf H218O Péclet effective length and leaf hydraulic conductance reflect assumptions in Craig-Gorgon model calculations. Tree Physiology 35: 16 – 26.​
  • Loucos KE, Simonin KA, Barbour MM (2017) Leaf hydraulic conductance and mesophyll conductance are not closely related within a single species. Plant, Cell and Environment 40: 203 – 215.
Millicent Smith - Using common bean as a model system, as an honors student Millicent investigated compound-speific patterns in leaf and phloem carbon isotope abundance and their relationship to plant water use efficiency. 
  • Smith M, Wild B, Richter A, Simonin K, Merchant A (2016) Carbon isotope composition of carbohydrates and polyols in leaf and phloem sap of Phaseolus VulgarisL. influences predictions of plant water use efficiency. Plant and Cell Physiology 57: 1756 - 1766.
Rhys Pirie - For his honors research, Rhys used stable oxygen and nitrogen isotopes to trace the movement of water and nitrogen within soils and the subsequent uptake by cotton plants.  Rhys is currently working for Alltech Crop Science. 
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