Ben Atkinson
Research Associate
btatkins(at)indiana.edu
812.856.0355

I received my BA in Biology with Honors from Indiana University in 2007, and I joined the Michaels Lab in May. I assist on a number of research projects throughout the lab, including the Yeast-Two-Hybrid Facility, and manage the lab website.

My undergraduate research took place in the Rieseberg Lab at Indiana University and involved a study of the domestication of two Native American sunflower (Helianthus annus) cultivars, the Hopi and the Havasupai. These two tribes, which live in the American Southwest, utilized the sunflower frequently in their everyday lives. Through the use of microsatellite analyses I compared these two cultivars to wild type sunflowers in 5 regions of North America in order to determine their origins. My research builds upon that done by Harter et al. (2004).

Studying the evolutionary history of cultivated plants tells us not only the history of the plant species itself, but also gives us a clue as to the history of the people who utilized these plants.

I also assisted Dr. Michael Moody with a related project that examined the origins of Mexican sunflower cultivars. We also used a microsatellite analysis in order to dertermine the origins of domestication.

Download my CV.