Rob McMinn

During my graduate research, I explored how plant traits, specifically the Circadian clock, vary within populations and how interactions with the soil microbiome shape plant fitness and local adaptation. I joined the Wagner Lab in Spring 2025 funded by a USDA grant investigating how the maize microbiome influences drought tolerance. Broadly, I am interested in integrating ecological, physiological, and genomic approaches to understand how plants and their associated microbes respond to environmental stress and contribute to resilience.