Dr. Shannon is an associate professor of potato breeding, genetics, and genomics in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota. She is a population and quantitative geneticist by training and she applies that experience to elucidate potato diversity and the complex nature of autotetraploid genomics as well as developing new potato varieties for Minnesota growers. She earned an undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology at Grinnell College and a PhD in genetics from the University of Wisconsin. Her post doctoral research was done in the department of Biomedical Sciences at Cornell and the Department of Horticulture at the University of Wisconsin. She enjoys overly complicated board games, bird watching, and exploring the theater, fashion, and art of the Twin Cities. For a list of Dr. Shannon's publications, click here.
Dr. Thomas Stefaniak
Dr. Stefaniak is a Researcher 6, Breeding Specialist in the Department of Horticulture. He is a plant breeder by training focusing on the development of new high yielding cultivars with improved disease tolerance and better quality. Thomas earned his B.A. from Michigan State University majoring in humanities, and his graduate degrees from the University of Kentucky majoring in Crop Science, minoring in plant physiology. He completed his education as a post-doctoral researcher at Texas A & M. Crops that Thomas has worked with throughout his career include soybean, melon, dry bean, tobacco, bermudagrass, sorghum, pea, lentil, chickpea, and now potato. Thomas enjoys tennis, exercise, reading, and streaming movies and television.
Dr. Harpreet Kaur
Harpreet Kaur is a postdoctoral associate at Department of Horticultural Sciences. She earned her Ph.D. in Plant and Environmental Sciences (Major: Plant Breeding) from New Mexico State University, NM. Her master’s and undergraduate degrees are from Punjab Agricultural University, Punjab, India. Her current project involves whole genome sequencing and pangenomic analyses in alfalfa crop which, like potatoes, is another autopolyploid species. She loves working with plants and enjoys outdoor activities like gardening and camping trips. Painting is also something she loves to do in her spare time.
Jessi Huege
Formerly an undergrad with the lab, Jessi is now a Researcher. She enjoys working with plants and learning to better understand the physiology and development of plants. In her free time, she likes to garden and create botanical illustrations.
Lauren Sexton
Lauren is a Researcher for the Department of Horticulture. She earned her B.S. in Plant Science with a minor in Horticulture at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She then earned her M.S. in Seed Technology and Business from Iowa State University.
Amy Hatchner
Amy is a Project and Data Manager for the Shannon Potato Lab in the Department of Horticulture. Formerly a K-12 educator, she earned her B.A. in German Studies (UMN), her M.Ed. in curriculum and instruction (UMN) with extensive work in educational technology (BSU) and she continues to pursue learning in computer science and horticulture. Amy runs a small alpaca farm in Oak Grove, MN and she enjoys gardening, hunting, horseback riding, and traveling.
Graduate Students
There are currently 4 PhD students in the lab in the APS and BICB programs, working on everything from using sequence data to elucidate the history of potato domestication to incorporating drone images into genomic selection models. However University HR tells us we aren't able to provide information on individuals.
Undergraduates
We rely on a team of undergraduates for plant care, phenotyping, and lab maintenance as well hosting undergraduate researchers for internships, honors thesis research, UROPs, and the SOAR REEU program. Unfortunately, University HR tells us we aren't able to provide information on individuals, we assure you they're great.
