#  Ryan Schmidt-Knapik 

Graduate Student

 

 

 



   ![Ryan Schmidt, a man wearing a construction vest, stands next to a tall Verbascum plant in flower, smiling](/sites/g/files/omnuum6336/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/davislab/files/schmidt-profile_verbascum_sewell.jpg?itok=yMxazA0A) 

 



 

 email <ryanschmidt@g.harvard.edu> 

 



 

Hi! I am a PhD student in the Davis lab working in the Harvard University Herbaria. I am a botanist broadly interested in understanding how humans have shaped biodiversity through space and time, with a focus on the ecologies and evolutionary histories of human-associated “weedy” plants and their relatives. In my research, I use a combination of ecological, phylogenetic, historical, and museum-based methods to better understand the mechanisms that allow some plants to colonize new areas. I am especially interested in how historical transportation infrastructure (e.g., shipping, ballast deposition, and railroads) has shaped global biodiversity through historical species introductions, and the ecology, evolution, and biogeography of the genus *Verbascum* (mulleins; Scrophulariaceae).



 

 

 





 

 

- ## Lab Members
    
     [Current Members](/lab-members/current-members)