Episode 2 - Connor Fitzpatrick - Doctor Dirt: Sunflowers, Evolutionary Ecology and the Future of Agriculture

About Connor Fitzpatrick: twitter - @crfitzpat

Connor comes from the land of mountain and ocean, British Columbia, where he completed his undergraduate degree in plant biology. During this time he was fortunate enough to travel across the southwestern United States collecting wild sunflower species with Rose Andrew and the Rieseberg lab, and measure the effects of oil and gas development on sagebrush communities in Alberta. He knew ecological and evolutionary biology was in his future but decided to work on various research projects before beginning his PhD. He spent time in Trinidad studying the ecosystem effects of contemporary evolution in guppies and later moved back to BC to work on a large project led by Sally Aitken investigating local climate adaptation in conifer species.

Connor began his PhD in 2012 with Marc Johnson in the EEB Department at the University of Toronto. Part way through his degree Connor made two important discoveries: 1) he found his research passion, the microscopic zoo living in and on plants, a.k.a. the microbiome; and 2) he met a fellow PhD student who later agreed to marry him. Now, he and his collaborator for life live in Chapel Hill where they both hold post-doctoral research positions at the University of North Carolina. Connor works in the Grant - Dangl research lab in the biology department at UNC and you can follow his research at http://unseenecology.com/ or find him on twitter @crfitzpat.