Rate My Professor Michael Gruenstaeudl

Michael Gruenstaeudl, Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Fort Hays State University, specializes in bioinformatics, phylogenetics, and plant biology. He earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of Texas at Austin in 2013, an M.Sc. in Plant Biology from the University of Vienna in 2007, and a Habilitation in Bioinformatics and Botany from Freie Universität Berlin in 2023. His career trajectory includes postdoctoral research at Ohio State University (2014-2015) and Freie Universität Berlin (2015-2022), prior to joining FHSU in 2023, where he directs the Gruenstaeudl Lab focused on genetics/genomics, bioinformatics, and plant evolution.

Gruenstaeudl's scholarly contributions include development of bioinformatic tools and advancements in plastid phylogenomics. Notable publications are "On the importance of sequence alignment inspections in plastid phylogenomics – an example from revisiting the relationships of the water-lilies" (Cladistics, 2024), "Software choice and sequencing coverage can impact plastid genome assembly – A case study in the narrow endemic Calligonum bakuense" (Frontiers in Plant Science, 2022), "Plastid phylogenomics of the Gynoxoid group (Senecioneae, Asteraceae) highlights the importance of motif-based sequence alignment amid low genetic distances" (American Journal of Botany, 2021), "PACVr: Plastome Assembly Coverage Visualization in R" (BMC Bioinformatics, 2020), and "Bioinformatic Workflows for Generating Complete Plastid Genome Sequences" (Applications in Plant Sciences, 2018). As PI or Co-PI, he has obtained funding from NIH (1R01LM014506, $239,206, 2024-present), NSF (2417083, $385,971, 2024-present), DFG (418670221, €69,360, 2018-2022), and others. Awards include the FHSU Outstanding Research and Scholarly Activity Award (2026), Teaching Assistant Award (UT Austin, 2007), and graduate research awards from Botanical Society of America (2010), Mycological Society of America (2010), and American Society of Plant Taxonomists (2011). With more than a decade of teaching experience, he has instructed courses in genetics, botany, bioinformatics, and molecular biology at FHSU and Freie Universität Berlin.