Acer VanWallendael

Dr. Acer VanWallendael is an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University (NCSU), affiliated with the Departments of Horticulture and Crop and Soil Sciences. His lab focuses on evolutionary genetics and weed science, integrating ecology, evolution, and genetics to study weed management and invasive species as evolutionary models. Key research areas include crop-weed genetics, rapid weed evolution, and plant-fungal interactions in crops like proso millet and switchgrass. He teaches Weed Biology (CS/HS 716) and leads a lab based in the Horticulture building on NCSU's main campus.

Education and Background: Dr. VanWallendael earned a B.S. from Juniata College, worked with Americorps, and completed a Ph.D. at Fordham University on Japanese knotweed genetics. His postdoctoral research at Michigan State University investigated plant-fungal relationships in switchgrass. The lab collaborates widely, emphasizing genomic tools and field experiments to address global invasion dynamics and climate adaptation.

Research Interests: The lab explores evolutionary processes in weeds, including domestication-weediness dynamics, rapid genetic changes under selection, and fungal microbiome influences on plant disease. Projects include studying proso millet’s drought tolerance, switchgrass rust resistance, and hybridization in invasive knotweed. Outputs emphasize molecular and genomic approaches to understand local adaptation and ecological succession.

Lab Members and Activities: The lab includes postdocs, graduate students (e.g., Leigh Schwinden and Audrey Fahey), and undergraduates. They use GitHub repositories for code sharing (e.g., rust_GWAS, quicklook_fq). Dr. VanWallendael resides in Cary, NC, with interests in outdoor activities.

Teaching and Funding: He teaches graduate-level weed biology and actively publishes on topics spanning invasion genetics to biofuel crop improvement. The lab aims to predict weed evolution trends and inform sustainable agricultural practices.