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A love for plants started early for Stacy Holt, Jr., and it all began with his Grandma, a high school teacher who taught math and science in Rolla, Kansas.

“I started gardening with my Grandma when I was 10 years old,” Holt remembers. “We had a classic vegetable garden and I remember growing cucumbers and rhubarb. We would enter our veggies into the county fair. I still love Rhubarb pie.”

Thus began a life-long passion directed toward understand the diversity of plant life on earth and sharing this diversity with others. It was during his first year of undergraduate work at Wichita State University that Holt’s interest in plants started to turn into a career path. There he took a Plant Systematics class with Dr. James Beck. Professor Beck would go on to become Holt’s advisor and mentor for his undergraduate research and master’s degree.

Holt found that this first class opened new aspects of plant science: “I enjoyed being introduced to all the different plant forms and diversity. I learned the Latin names and began to learn the ecology of different species. Plants have so many uses, and I became invested in the understanding how Native American populations used all of the prairie plants I saw around me in Kansas.”

It was moving from coursework to undergraduate research that allowed Holt to develop a greater understanding of plants and, beyond that, invasive species. He credits research for advancing this understanding. 

“The way to be around plants is to do research. I really love to learn and as long as you are doing research, you are learning,” he says.

Working to understand the origins of invasive species, Holt’s undergraduate research found that invasive “Callery Pear” trees in Kansas originated from hybridization between escaped cultivated varieties. For his master’s degree, his research moved to an even more noxious invasive plant, Salvinia molesta. This invasive fern has colonized and overrun aquatic ecosystems across the southeastern United States after introduction from Brazil. His master’s work was published in the journal, Biological Invasions (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-023-03028-0). This study reveals that Salvinia molesta has much more genetic diversity and potential for adaptation in its introduced range than expected for an asexual fern.

“My masters research,” he says, “led me to become more interested in plant adaptation and finding a lab working on rapid adaptation in plants was my main objective in pursuing a PhD”
 

A Friendly Place and More

Holt’s search for that kind of lab led him to graduate research at the University of è���������� at Lafayette. The decision to move to è���������� to pursue an Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Ph.D. was not an easy one for him, however. Ultimately, he chose UL Lafayette over the University of Arizona and the University of Vermont, among other universities.

“When I came to interview in February,” Holt remembers, “everything was so green. I remember the campus swamp and I remember the friendly vibe from the students and faculty in the Department of Biology.”

For Holt, the decision to pursue a PhD in biology at UL Lafayette came down to choosing the most supportive advisor, the opportunity to conduct the research projects he wanted, and a prestigious fellowship supported by the ��������� Board of Regents and the Southern Regional Board of Education (SREB).

Holt connected with  and a plant adaptation and evolution lab that welcomed scholarly exploration and growth, and his research interests started to shift. “I originally thought about evolution on long geologic timescales,” he explains, “but after reading about polyploidy [doubling of genome size within a cell] and the rapid consequences it can have on plant traits, I realized that I really wanted to be studying the rapid evolution occurring in today’s world.”

Holt’s doctoral research in ecology and evolutionary biology focuses on the Yellow Common Monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus. Explaining how this common plant model species adapts to stressful environments across its range, particularly drought-prone environments, his work will help us better understand fundamental questions in evolutionary biology and conservation.

“I am interested in evolution on a contemporary timescale and whether plants will be able to adapt to changing climates. I want my work to have conservation implications and connect science theory with applied outcomes,” says Holt.

In addition to being attracted to the , Holt’s fellowship and its connection to the Program played a large role in his decision to do a doctorate in biology in è����������. Since its founding in 1993, the SREB program has provided funding and professional development opportunities to PhD students planning a career in academia. Holt’s fellowship guarantees funding for five years of doctoral study and allows for participation in the annual , an inspirational conference focused on professional development, networking, and skill-building for PhD students from university across the nation.

Holt explains, “the SREB meetings make me feel like academia is becoming a more accepting place. I see lots of black and brown people like me, who are at the top of their fields and either have or are working toward their PhDs. I appreciate the community that I have developed by coming back year after year.”

Success on the Bayou

Alongside coursework and preparing for comprehensive exams, Holt has been busy with research and making lasting connections. He is the lead or co-author on four publications already and, now in his third year of PhD studies, he will complete his comprehensive exams this year.

Holt is quick to caution that there was a steep learning curve as a new PhD student.

“The process of reducing my thesis into a more concise piece of work has been the biggest, unexpected challenge,” he explained. “I revised work that I thought was really good and the journal reviewers challenged my assumptions about the world. But the satisfaction of producing a finished product and sharing my science is incredible.”

He has been happy to connect with a large scientific community that extends beyond the research lab and fieldwork to conferences, journal reviewers, and more. “It is deeply satisfying to have discussions with people who have read my work.” 

At the Halloween Art and Natural Festival, an area outreach event, Holt shared, “a well-known researcher from LSU who also works on Salvina molesta recognized my name from a publication during my master’s thesis and tracked me down to discuss it.”

The scientific opportunities at UL Lafayette have been especially rewarding for Holt. “I have gotten the opportunity to explore new subalpine ecosystems in the Cascade Mountains while working with a large collaborative team of scientists that I respect. I have been able to do the kind of research with real world applications that I hoped for when I came to UL Lafayette.”

But the best part of UL Lafayette for Holt has been the people. “I appreciate the opportunity to develop a new community outside of where I grew up in Kansas. The graduate students in the biology department and the SREB community have been a family to me.”

The advice Holt has for future graduate students is simple: “Do not self-isolate in graduate school; take advantage of the graduate community around you. Remember that you are an essential member of the scientific community that has important expertise.”

Holt hopes that he can translate his success into a career in academia or conservation. “I am open to opportunities. I would like to teach or do research at a research institution or herbarium. I want to be conducting conservation research with plants.”

Until that time comes after graduation, Holt’s dream of studying and teaching others about plants is alive and well on the bayou.

Interested in pursuing a PhD in Biology? Learn more about the Environmental & Evolutionary Biology PhD program at the University of è���������� at Lafayette.