Claudia Solís-Lemus

Claudia Solís-Lemus is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she develops statistical and machine learning methods to solve complex biological problems. Her work bridges computational statistics with plant pathology and evolutionary biology, focusing on network-based approaches to genomic and microbiome data.

Educational background:

• PhD in Statistics, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Her research centers on phylogenetic network inference, microbiome analysis, and high-dimensional statistical modeling. She creates open-source tools like CMiNet and MiNAA to empower biologists with robust network analysis capabilities. Her lab tackles challenges in biodiversity research, agricultural disease prediction, and microbial ecology through innovative computational frameworks that handle massive biological datasets.

Analysis of her 2024-2025 publications reveals a cohesive focus on scalable network inference methods across phylogenetics and microbiome studies. She integrates Bayesian statistics, regularization techniques (e.g., spike-and-slab LASSO), and high-performance computing to address data complexity. Her work consistently emphasizes practical software implementation (R packages, Shiny apps, Julia tools) for real-world biological applications including potato disease prediction, hornwort evolution, and freshwater ecosystem dynamics.

Scientific recognition:

• NSF CAREER Award (2022) for "Towards Scalable and Robust Inference of Phylogenetic Networks"

Dr. Solís-Lemus leads an interdisciplinary research group at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, securing competitive grants to advance phylogenetic network methodology. Her CAREER project combines algorithmic innovation with educational outreach to train next-generation computational biologists. Current efforts focus on improving network inference for polyploid genomes and developing consensus methods for microbiome data integration across diverse environmental conditions.

The Solís-Lemus Lab operates within UW-Madison's Wisconsin Institute for Discovery ecosystem, fostering collaborations between statisticians, computer scientists, and biologists. Her team actively develops user-friendly software to lower computational barriers for life scientists studying evolutionary processes and microbial communities.