Staff

Herbarium Staff

Photo Name Position and Contact

 Laura

Laura Lagomarsino, PhD

Director & Associate Professor 
(225) 578-8555 
llagomarsino1 AT lsu.edu 

Jennie

Jennifer Kluse, MSc

Collections Manager 
(225) 578-8564 
jkluse AT lsu.edu 

Daniel

Daniel Santamaría-Aguilar

Research Associate 
santamaria1 AT lsu.edu 

christina

Christina Mozzicato

Research Associate 
cmozzicato AT lsu.edu 

Numwan

Duangsamorn Boyd, MSc

Research Associate

dboyd20 AT lsu.edu

 

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistants

 

Photo Name Position and Contact
janet Aislinn Mumford

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistant

amumfo5 AT lsu.edu

 

Emeritus Staff

Photo Name Position and Contact

 lowell

Lowell E. Urbatsch, PhD

Emeritus Professor 
leu AT lsu.edu 

shirley

Shirley C. Tucker, PhD

Emeritus Professor

meredith_black

Meredith Blackwell, PhD

Emeritus Professor

Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1973 Mycology

 
Research Interests
My research interests focus on fungi, especially those associated with arthropods, including yeasts in the gut of beetles and Laboulbeniomycetes. Phylogenies incorporating sequences from rarely studied ascomycetes provided new clues to the evolution of Laboulbeniomycetes. More recently we have been interested in yeasts from the gut of beetles and other insects. Several newly enlarged ascomycete yeast clades inhabit the gut of mushroom-feeding beetles. Other yeasts, particularly unusual xylose-fermenters, are common in the gut of wood-ingesting beetles.
In addition my research has used a variety of techniques, including field and cultural studies, electron microscopy, and nucleic acid sequencing. I have two projects on the history of mycology with collaborators: A genealogy of North American mycologists and An oral history for mycology, a series of interviews with mycologists posted on YouTube. 


See CV for publications.

mblackwell AT lsu.edu

Volunteers

Photo Name Position and Contact

amber

Amber King

Super Volunteer - assoc. with City Nature Challenge

 

Undergraduate Assistants

  • Oliver Deal

  • Olivia Degreenia

Former Herbarium Affiliates

In chronological order starting with most recent

Photo Name Former Position and Current Contact
 Janet

Janet Mansaray

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistant

jmansa1 AT lsu.edu

Carrie

Carrie Barker, PhD

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistant & Research Associate

cbark16 AT lsu.edu

Diego Diego Paredes-Burneo

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistant and Web Designer

dpared1 AT lsu.edu

 

Benjamin Toups

Graduate Student Assistant  - coding

btoup15 At lsu.edu

Laymon

Laymon Ball

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistant

lball4 AT lsu.edu

 

Genevieve Mount

Graduate Student Assistant - coding

genna.mount AT usu.edu

Utah State Univ. & Univ. of Calif. Berkeley

Olivia

Olivia Taylor

Research Associate 1

 

Hannah Douget

Research Associate 1

 

Laura Frost

Post Doc & Research Associate

lafrost AT southalabama.edu

University of South Alabama

Yalma

Yalma Rodriguez-Vargas

Graduate Student Curatorial Assistant

yalma.vargas AT academicos . udg . mx

Universidad Guadalajara, Mexico

Former Herbarium Undergradute Students

  • Zachary Sides
  • Fiona McClain
  • Maddie Dupree
  • Addie Durham
  • Oscar Tickle
  • Owen Nassif
  • Hannah Cauley-March
  • Basil Gaffney
  • Zoe Mixon
  • Cameron Lala
  • Ria Salway
  • Erin Nauman
  • Brandon Nuguyen
  • Christy Nuguyen
  • Sara Trapen
  • Lucas Ferguson
  • Philip Tabilin
  • Jaydon Govender
  • Amber Griffin
  • Abigayle Hogan
  • Mike Le
  • Jane Craig
  • Chase Mathey
  • And many, many more