Dr. Thomas Juenger

Biography

Tom Juenger is a Professor in the Section of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Center for Computation Biology and Bioinformatics. He received his B.S. in Ecology, Ethology, and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and began his graduate studies in 1994 at the University of Chicago, focusing on ecology and evolutionary biology. His dissertation concentrated on species interactions in natural populations of the scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata). After earning his Ph.D., he was a Miller Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley, where he explored genetic bases of phenotypic plasticity and physiological responses in ecological contexts. Since joining UT Austin in 2002, Juenger has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in Evolutionary Biology. His research primarily investigates ecological and evolutionary genetics in natural populations, with a particular interest in phenotypic evolution, drought adaptation, and plant-animal interactions. His laboratory focuses on understanding genetic variation and evolutionary processes in plant populations, particularly through quantitative genetic experiments and studies of natural genetic variation under various selective pressures.

Research Interests