July 2024 - present: Postdoctoral associate, Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY.
July 2021 - June 2024: NSF Plant Genome Postdoctoral Fellow, Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY. Continuing work on hornwort genomics, focusing on the repeated evolution of sex chromosomes in multiple lineages
January 2020 - July 2021: Postdoctoral associate, Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY. Working in lab of Fay-Wei Li studying hornwort genomics and hornwort-cyanobacterial symbiosis
May 2015 - July 2019: Research associate, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
October 2012 - September 2019: Consultant for Wildlands Engineering Inc. Identification of wetland plants at the Malbone mitigation site, West Neck Creek, Virginia Beach, VA
October 2017 - April 2018: Predoctoral Fellow, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
May 2016 - May 2017: Assistant Manager, Blackwater Ecological Preserve, Isle of Wight Co., VA
August - December 2014: Graduate teaching assistant, Old Dominion University. Taught BIOL 111 (Environmental Science) lab sections under Dr. Tatyana Lobova
August 2014: Teaching assistant for Wetland Plants course, Cranberry Lake Biological Station, State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry
May - June 2014: Instructor of BIOL 340 (Field Botany), Old Dominion University
January - May 2014: Graduate teaching assistant, Old Dominion University. Taught BIOL 308 (Botany) lab sections under Dr. Kneeland Nesius
August 2013 - December 2013: Graduate teaching assistant, Old Dominion University. Taught BIOL 115 (General Biology) lab sections under Dr. Doug Mills
August 2013: Teaching assistant for Adirondack Flora course, Cranberry Lake Biological Station, State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry
April - June 2013: Visiting professor, American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. Instructor for BOT 232 (Botany and the Environment) and BOT 233 (Introduction to Plant Identification)
August 2012: Teaching assistant for Adirondack Flora course, Cranberry Lake Biological Station, State University of New York – College of Environmental Science and Forestry
May 2012 - June 2012: Visiting lecturer, American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. I assisted in teaching a 3 week course on plant taxonomy and plant identification in Iraqi-Kurdistan
Invited Talks
Theory and implementation of species concepts in Isoetes P.W. Schafran QuillCon III symposium, Association of Southeastern Biologists Meeting, March 2025, Myrtle Beach, SC
Paired morphologic and genetic studies of Isoetes piedmontana diversity in Georgia, U.S.A. G.C. Milly and P.W. Schafran QuillCon III symposium, Association of Southeastern Biologists Meeting, March 2025, Myrtle Beach, SC
Untangling the web: Using HybSeq to resolve the Isoetes phylogeny D.A. Wickell, J.S. Suissa and P.W. Schafran QuillCon III symposium, Association of Southeastern Biologists Meeting, March 2025, Myrtle Beach, SC
Thinking Outside the Box - Homoploid Hybridization and Animal Dispersal in Isoetes lithophila L. George, S. Kinosian, P.W. Schafran, J.S. Suissa, A. Vasco QuillCon III symposium, Association of Southeastern Biologists Meeting, March 2025, Myrtle Beach, SC
Repeated evolution of dioicy and sex chromosomes in hornworts (Anthocerotophyta) P.W. Schafran, D. Lafferty, X. Xu, D. Hauser, and F.-W. Li International Plant and Animal Genomes Conference 32, January 2024, San Diego, CA
Hornworts: introduction and genomics P.W. Schafran. Cornell Rubisco Workshop, August 2023, Ithaca, NY
Unrecognized genetic diversity in polyploid Isoetes revealed with PacBio DNA sequencing P.W. Schafran, E.A. Zimmer, W.C. Taylor, J.F. Bolin, and L.J. Musselman Botanical Society of America Meeting, July 2018, Rochester, MN
Alloployploid and autopolyploid speciation revealed through whole plastomes and nuclear homologues in northwestern North American Isoetes (Quillworts) J. Suissa, W.C. Taylor, P.W. Schafran, and E.A. Zimmer Botanical Society of America Meeting, July 2018, Rochester, MN
Revealing phylogenetic relationships in northeastern North American Isoetes W.C. Taylor, P.W. Schafran, L.J. Musselman, J.F. Bolin, and E.A. Zimmer Botanical Society of America Meeting, July 2018, Rochester, MN
Towards a phylogeny of Isoetes in the Southeastern United States P.W. Schafran, E.A. Zimmer, W.C. Taylor, and L.J. Musselman Association of Southeastern Biologists Meeting, April 2016, Concord, NC
Training
January 2019 - OTS Tropical Ferns and Lycophytes, Costa Rica
July 2016 - MBL Workshop on Molecular Evolution, Woods Hole, MA
May 2011 - IUCN Redlisting Workshop, Sulaimani, Kurdistan, Iraq
Service
Biology Graduate Student Organization (Old Dominion University) | May 2014 - April 2015: Vice President
Botanical Society of America - Old Dominion University Chapter | May 2014 - April 2015; May 2015 - April 2016: President | September 2013 - May 2014: Treasurer | January - September 2013: Community Outreach Liaison
IUCN Species Survival Commission - Freshwater Plant Specialist Group - Isoetes subgroup
Southern Appalachian Botanical Society | October 2017 - October 2018: Student Representative
Awards, Fellowships, and Scholarships
2021-2024: NSF IOS Plant Genome Research Program Postdoctoral Fellowship ($216,000)
March 2018: Washington Field Biologists' Club Research Award
October 2017: Predoctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution
August 2017: Nick Savage Scholarship, Old Dominion University
May 2017: W. Hardy Eshbaugh Graduate Student Award, American Society of Plant Taxonomists
May 2016: Fred Case Grant, Native Orchid Conference
April 2016: Outstanding Student Oral Presentation Award at Association of Southeastern Biologists Annual Meeting, Southern Appalachian Botanical Society
December 2015: Kirk Student Research Award, Old Dominion University
July 2015: Howard and Vivian Marshall Scholarship, Old Dominion University
May 2015: Graduate Student Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution
April 2014: Association of Southeastern Biologists Graduate Student Support Award
March 2014: 1st Place Oral Presentation PhD. category, BGSO Spring Symposium
August 2008: ODU Faculty Emeriti Association Scholarship