My research focuses on three related but very important areas, embryology, cytology and taxonomy.      I have been working on several projects.  It is rather difficult to explain it all in very elementary terms.  However, I will give it a try. 

• I study development and reproduction in plants.  The patterns of development are very important and useful in plant classification.  I choose plants that are included in one taxonomic group (order, family, genus) and determine through studies on developmental patterns, if their classification is justified.  My studies on this subject have included families such as Boraginaceae (forget me not family, plants shown below), Liliaceae (lily family) Salicaceae (aspen family) and others.

Cordia_sebestina	Cordia alba	Cerinthe sp	Heliotropium	Mertensia sp.	Ehretia sp

• Plants need flowers to make seeds.  I study the chemical and physical requirements of plants that allow them to make flowers and for seeds to develop.  For example humans need hormones for reproduction.  I ask the same question, do plants need hormones and are they the same hormones as animal or human hormones.  I have studied aspens to answer those questions.
•  I study plant chromosomes.  Chromosome maps are very important in plant classification.  Through these studies, I determine if plants with in a family or a genus are related.  These studies also show you how hybrids came about.  I have studied Amaryllis (shown below), Allium and many other plants. 

Rosemary	Floris Hecker	Fortune	Lilac Wonder and Clown

• Plants need gravity to root themselves and I ask what will happen if there was no gravity or too much gravity. I use onions to study this.
• Last year, two of my students carried an onion experiment on Vomit Comet (KC135 plane) under the NASA reduced gravity flight opportunity program for students.
•  I am now studying the effect of variable gravity and stress experienced during the Vomit Comet flight on onion root growth.  If we want to grow plants in space and on Mars these kinds of studies are important.  
• We all know how important water is to life. I ask what will happen to plant chromosomes if the pollution, fertilizers and other chemicals polluted the water in which they are growing.  Since Yellowstone river basin is an important water source for Montana and other neighboring states, I focus on assessing water quality in Yellowstone river by studying onion chromosomes.
• My other work includes putting together a checklist of plants by collecting, identifying, and classifying plants from an area.  Most recently, I have published a checklist of plants from a park near Billings called Two Moon Park.