Ellie Mendelson, Research Assistant

As a research assistant in the Friedman Lab, I contribute to a variety of projects related to plant evolution and morphology. For my undergraduate thesis, I studied the fruit developmental network in early diverging angiosperms Austrobaileya scandens and Illicium floridanum with the Ambrose Lab at the New York Botanical Garden. I am passionate about science communication and accessibility, and love sharing plant science with people of all ages. Broadly, I am interested in asking questions about how the evolution of complex structures has informed the way that plants interact with each other, symbionts, and the surrounding environment.