Post-doctoral Researcher
Norm received his PhD from Duke University working with Paul Manos. His dissertation research focused on molecular systematics of the four o'clock family, Nyctaginaceae, (which contains the familiar garden four o'clock, Mirabilis jalapa, as well as the popular ornamental genus Bougainvillea). Additionally, he addressed species- and population-level systematics in the taxonomically vexing genus Boerhavia, in which a large radiation of annual species seems to have occurred in the geologically young Sonoran Desert. Currently, Norm is beginning work on a phylogeographic study of the Sandhills Lily (Lilium pyrophilum) and its closest relatives, to better understand the population genetic structure and relationships of this rare species.