Current lab members

Amanda Fisher

I am a Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium (LOB) at Long Beach State University. I regularly teach upper-level Botany courses in the Department of Biological Sciences (BIOL427, BIOL439). I am particularly interested in plant systematics and how flowers have evolved with pollinators. Some of my students work on floristics- the study of plant diversity in a particular place. I graduated from the University of Iowa in 2004 with a BS in Environmental Sciences on the Botany track. In 2005 I began a PhD in Biology with Dr. Scot Kelchner at Idaho State University, working on the systematics of the neotropical bamboo genus Chusquea. In 2011 I began an NSF-funded postdoctoral fellowship at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California to work on chloridoid grass systematics with Dr. Travis Columbus. Then in 2013 I had the pleasure of being an RSABG postdoctoral fellow, working with Dr. Lucinda McDade on the systematics of several Acanthaceae genera (Barleria, Dyschoriste). My recent work has been on resolving the Acanthaceae phylogeny using nuclear loci and investigating patterns of pollinator shifts and macro-evolutionary effects on floral morphology.

I am currently looking for undergraduate and MS students to research plant evolution and diversity. Please contact me if you are interested in joining the lab!

Amanda [dot] Fisher [at] csulb [dot] edu

Nicholas Rocha

is a MS student in the lab where he is working on a florula of the Lay, Glass, and Lower Filiorum Reserves of Palos Verdes Peninsula. He is also studying the population structure of a rare shrub that occurs on the Peninsula, Lycium brevipes var. hassei. He received his BS from Cornell University in Entomology and Plant sciences.

Diego Uribe

is working on the Justicia pollination project, primarily Justicia sonorae.

Yasmine Murad

is working on the Justicia pollination project, primarily Justicia sonorae.

Nickie Chanthavisith

has assisted Nick Rocha with molecular lab work and is working on the Justicia pollination project.

Nancy Nyugen

works in the herbarium, mounting and repairing specimens

Lab alumni

Leon Rubarts

worked with M.S. student Nick Rocha of the flora of Glass, Lay, and Lower Filiorum Reserves on Palos Verdes Peninsula. He graduated in 2026 and immediately left to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

Miguel Aranda

worked in the herbarium, mounting specimens and organizing our seed cone collection.

Jaylin Leon

worked on the Justicia pollination project. She graduated with her B.S. in 2026.

Emily Fitzpatrick

completed their undergraduate honors thesis in the lab. Their thesis was titled “Tecate cypress management in the Cleveland National Forest. Persistence in the face of fire” Emily presented at the 2025 Botany conference and the Southern California Botanists Symposium. Emily is now a research scientist in the Dept of Integrative Biology at University of Texas, Austin

Jake Himelfarb

worked with Emily Fitzpatrick on tecate cypress

Kelsey Imrie

worked on the Justicia pollination project. In 2025 she was awarded the competitive Summer Research Assistantship from the CSULB Office of Research and Economic Development. She presented her project on variation in Justicia pollen production and pollinator adaptations in 2025. She is now a Biologist at AECOM.

Annie Le

was an undergraduate honors student in the lab. Her thesis was titled Vegetative anatomy and staminal development of American water willow, Justicia americana (Acanthaceae). She is now in Pharmacy School.

Ramses Cuellar de Lucio

volunteered in the lab

Valerie Tran

was an undergraduate honors student in the lab. Her thesis was titled “Examining the relationship between pollinators and pollen size and shape in Justicia (Acanthaceae)”

Tayahna Agtarap

worked on the Justicia pollination project and presented a poster on her research at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research and a talk at the Orange County Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. Tay participated in an REU program at Washington University, St. Louis in 2023

Kaya Sadi

worked on the Justicia pollination project

Ashley Galdamez

worked on the Justicia pollination project

Daniel Goldstein

worked on the Justicia pollination project. He is now in the Forensic Sciences Masters program at UC Davis.

Kylie Tran

worked on the Justicia pollination project

Van Nguyen

worked on the California Biodiversity Institute grant in the herbarium

Sara Ramirez

worked on the California Biodiversity Institute grant in the herbarium

Genesis Ruiz Esparza

worked on the California Biodiversity Institute grant in the herbarium

Josephine (Rodriguez) Palacios

did her MS research on the evolution of pollination in Justicia. Her work was funded by the National Science Foundation and she presented a poster at the 2021 Botany conference. Josie completed her BS in Biology at CSULB.

Mateo Quezado

worked in the CSULB herbarium, mounting and repairing specimens

Christian Caro

worked in the CSULB herbarium, mounting and repairing specimens

Karen Hernandez

worked in the CSULB herbarium, mounting and repairing specimens

Yuting Wang

did her MS research on the phylogeny of the SAI clade of Justicia and evolution of corolla and pollen forms in the clade. Her work was funded by the National Science Foundation and she presented a poster at the 2021 Botany conference and at the 2023 CSUPERB symposium. Yuting completed her BS in Biology at CSULB.

Sona Karun

worked in the CSULB herbarium, mounting and repairing specimens

Laura Abonce

worked on Justicia pollination with Yuting Wang and Josie Palacios. She presented a poster on her research at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research.

Daniel Donovan

did his MS research on the flora of Ladd Canyon in the Santa Ana Mountains, Cleveland National Forest, California. His research was published in the journal Aliso and he presented at the California Native Plant Society conference in San Jose, CA in 2022. He is now a field botanist at San Diego Museum of Natural History.

Harrison McGowan

did his MS research on the flora of the Chiquito Basin in the Santa Ana Mtns, Cleveland National Forest, California. He received a scholarship to attend the Systematics Research Institute at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Summer, 2018 and presented his work at the 2019 Botany conference in Tucson, Arizona. He is now an ecological consultant in California. Harrison completed his BS at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Amy Nguyen

was a BS student in the molecular lab. She is studying the anatomy of chloridoid grass leaves to test if particular leaf anatomy traits are correlated with the evolution of C4 photosynthesis subtypes. She presented her research at the Fall, 2019 CNSM Research Symposium. Amy was also an herbarium assistant, databasing for the California Phenology Project.

Monica Soenjoto

was a BS UROP student in the molecular lab.

Marina Rice

was a BS student and the undergraduate Collections Manager of the Long Beach State Herbarium and team leader for the California Phenology Project. She also worked with MS student Harrison McGowan on the flora of the Chiquito Basin. Marina is now a Genetic Counseling Assistant at GeneDX

Nathan Ocampo

worked with Yuting Wang

Skye Idzinski

was a BS student and herbarium assistant. She databased for the California Phenology Project.

Laymon Ball

was a BS student who studied the rhizosphere diversity of chloridoid grasses and the reproductive biology of Justicia californica. Laymon was a PLANTS mentee for the Botany 2017 conference in Fort Worth, Texas. She also received a scholarship to attend the Systematics Research Institute at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden for Summer, 2018. In 2025 Laymon defended her Ph.D. in pollination biology from Dr. Laura Lagomarsino’s lab at Louisiana State University.

Angel Barnett

worked on the California Phenology Project in the Long Beach State Herbarium and graduated with a B.S. in Spring, 2019. They are now a model and actor in New York.

Robert Comito

was an MS student studying the molecular phylogeny of Barleria (Acanthaceae) using RADseq. Robert completed a Ph.D. in Botany at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University in 2024. He is a visiting lecturer of Biology at the Claremont Colleges. Robert completed his BS at University of California, Berkeley.

Sara Cuadra-Vargas

was a BS student and the undergraduate collections manager of the Long Beach State Herbarium (LOB). She was a pivotal member of the Long Beach State team for the California Phenology Project. After graduation Sara began an internship with the Long Beach Water Department, focused on the lawn to gardens program. She is currently a Conservation Biologist with the Xerces Society.

Joshua Arias

was an MS student studying the phylogenomics of Acanthaceae by combining transcriptome and genome-skim data. He defended his MS thesis in Spring 2019 and began working on cancer research at the National Institutes of Health in Summer 2019 with Dr. Sonja Berndt. Josh completed his BS at University of California, Irvine

Nneka Aruoma

assembled transcriptomes of California cord grass Spartina foliosa and sectioned leaves for her undergraduate honors thesis. She graduated with her BS in Biology in 2018.

Bryana Olmeda

was the undergraduate collections manager of the Long Beach State Herbarium (LOB) in Fall, 2018 and also a wetlands restoration intern at Tidal Influence. Bryana graduated with their BS in Biology in December, 2018 and was a Seeds of Success intern with the Bureau of Land Management in Socorro, New Mexico. Bryana presented a poster on the LOB Herbarium at the 2019 Botany conference in Tucson, Arizona. They worked for several years in the herbarium at California Botanic Garden. Bryana completed a MS in floristics in Dr. Hannah Marx’s lab at University of New Mexico.

Keana Tang

was a BS student in the Long Beach State Herbarium (LOB) and an intern at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum. She was formerly an intern for the Trinity Shasta National Forest. She was also a PLANTS mentee at the Botany 2018 conference in Rochester, Minnesota and received a scholarship to attend the Systematics Research Institute at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden for Summer, 2018. She completed a MS and PhD in Dr. Brian Atkinson’s Paleobotany lab at the University of Kansas.

Emily Do

was a BS student working on Acanthaceae leaf anatomy and graduated in December, 2018. She was awarded the Bennett and Peggy Kayser Research Award in 2018 to collect leaf samples at the Huntington Botanic Garden in Altadena, California.

Semaria (Kassa) Mechal

was a BS student in the molecular lab and worked with Robert Comito on a RADseq phylogeny of the genus Barleria (Acanthaceae). She is a Family Nurse Practicioner

Mariangel Fernandez

was a BS student working with MS student Harrison McGowan on the flora of the Chiquito Basin. She analyzed elevation and phenological data for toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)

Brittany Betz

is a Biological Desktop Technician with SWCA Pasadena. In the lab she co-authored the Flora of the Oasis de los Osos, a University of California Natural Reserve on the edge of the Sonoran Desert. After graduation she was a Seeds of Success intern with the Bureau of Land Management in Bishop, California. She is now a Wetlands Project Manager at SWCA.

Sierra (Coleman) Valladares

is a Managing Consultant/Biologist at VCS Environmental. She worked on a checklist of the vascular plants of Pleasants Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains.

Asusena Figueroa

worked on a checklist of the vascular plants of Pleasants Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains.

Carolina Contreras

studied morphological variation in lodgepole pine populations in Southern California and is pursuing a career in zoos and conservation.

Hannah (Garfin) Craddock

studied morphological variation in lodgepole pine populations in Southern California and entered the CSULB MS GIS program and also worked at Tidal Influence. She is now a Habitat Restoration Ecologist with Glenn Lukos Associates

Karla Gonzalez

assisted with fieldwork for the Flora of the Oasis de los Osos.

Mark Noda

databased specimens in the LOB herbarium and is employed at Paragon Labs

Krystiana Oberhammer

volunteered in the LOB herbarium. Kryssy is employed at KP Environmental.

Bridgette Saroff

modeled the climatic factors affecting the distribution of Justicia californica and is a nutritionist.

Chenyu Shen

studied the flowering duration of Justicia californica in the Long Beach State greenhouses and is pursuing graduate school in Biology

Renee Stewart

volunteered in the LOB herbarium

Alan Vera

databased specimens in the LOB herbarium and is pursuing medical school

Jennie Nguyen

worked on scientific illustration in the lab and is now a veterinarian at Pasadena Humane Society