Rate My Professor Andrew Alverson

Andrew Alverson is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. He earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, an M.S. in Entomology, Ecology, and Evolutionary Biology from Iowa State University in 2000, and a B.S. in Biology from Grand Valley State University in 1997. Prior to his current role, he served as Associate Professor (2018-2023) and Assistant Professor (2012-2018) at the University of Arkansas, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Indiana University (2006-2011), Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Texas at Austin (2001-2006), Biology and Chemistry Teacher at Fowlerville High School (2000-2001), Research Technician at Michigan State University (2000-2001), and Graduate Research Assistant at Iowa State University (1998-2000). He also held a Visiting Research Fellowship at Lund University in 2022.

Alverson's research centers on the evolution and diversification of diatoms, key aquatic microalgae responsible for substantial global primary production and silica biogeochemical cycling. His lab employs phylogenetic, comparative genomic, experimental, and population genomic approaches to explore diatom-bacterial associations, genetics, evolution, frustule structures, life history traits, culture preservation, and flora. Major projects address diatom phylogeny, marine-to-freshwater transitions, genome size impacts on physiology and ecology, adaptation to changing environments, and epizoic diatoms on marine animals like sea turtles and mammals. He received a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award ($1.11 million, 2017) for studying diatom evolution and freshwater colonization, and leads a portion ($918,053) of a $1.47 million NSF grant (2024) on marine animal skin microbiomes. Additional honors include the 21st Century Chair in Bioinformatics (2018-present), Simons Foundation Early Career Investigator in Marine Microbial Ecology and Evolution (2016-2019), Grand Valley State University Distinguished Alumnus in Residence (2011), Kathleen Drew-Baker Prize for best article in European Journal of Phycology (2009), and others. Key publications feature "Phylogenomics reveals the slow-burning fuse of diatom evolution" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025), "Reference genome for the benthic marine diatom Psammoneis japonica" (Journal of Phycology, 2025), and "A phylogenetic classification of diatoms (Bacillariophyta)" (Journal of Phycology, 2026). Alverson directs the Alverson Lab and the myDiatoms project for diatom education and identification.