Emilie Lefevre

I completed my Ph.D. in Aquatic Microbial Ecology at the University of Clermont-Ferrand II, France, in 2007. My research project focused on the role and diversity of planktonic heterotrophic flagellates, and the development of molecular methods for their detection and quantification in freshwater ecosystems. Initially trained as an aquatic microbial ecologist, I gradually developed a great interest in fungi during my PhD as I realized that their roles, diversity, and interactions with other organisms were poorly understood in natural environments. This growing interest for fungi brought me to The University of Alabama where I worked as a postdoctoral researcher (2007-2010) with Dr. Martha J. Powell and Dr. Peter M. Letcher on the ecology and taxonomy of planktonic zoosporic fungi in lentic ecosystems. I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University in the Department of Environmental Engineering. I will be joining the Lutzoni Lab during the fall of 2011 to determine the spatial scale at which endophytic fungal communities change in boreal forests.