FIU-Fairchild Graduate Student receives award from the Southern California Plumeria Society

In January of this year, the Southern California Plumeria Society (SCPS), awarded FIU-Fairchild graduate student, Nichole Tiernan, a $1500 award for her Ph.D. research on Plumeria (Apocynaceae). Nichole’s major advisor is FIU-Fairchild professor Dr. Javier Francisco-Ortega and she is seeking her graduate degree in the Department of Biological Sciences of FIU. In July, she traveled to San Diego, California, to present some of her work at the Society’s monthly meeting. She met with board members and presented to an audience of over 200 Plumeria enthusiasts, giving an introduction to the extraordinary taxonomic diversity that this genus has in the Caribbean Islands. Her fieldwork has included collections from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, and Jamaica, all conducted in collaboration with colleagues from these islands, her advisor, and Dr. Brett Jestrow (Fairchild’s Director of Collections). Her research aims to resolve the challenging taxonomy of the wild-growing Caribbean species and has aspects of systematics, phylogenomics, and ecology related to the genus. Nichole is grateful to SCPS for inviting her and hosting her visit.