About Us

We are a collaborative team of researchers with cross-disciplinary expertise in plant science, biostatistics, genetics, and computer science from the University of Tennessee and Colorado State University.

We study the ecology, evolution, and genetics of local adaptation in natural plant populations, with a particular emphasis on economically important crops.

Resources

Meet our team

Core research team of 2025-25 The ROOTS Project from UTHSC and CSU 

John McKay

Pricipal Investigator

Professor of Agricutural Sciences, CSU

Emma Thompson

Principal Investigator

Professor of Biostatistics,

UTHSC

Zifan (Fred) Yu

Graduate Research Assistant

PhD Student in DSE, UTK

zyu20@uthsc.edu

Jack Mullen

Research Scientist

McKay Lab, CSU

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