Education:
Ph.D., University of Georgia, Athens (1997)
M.S., University of Minnesota, St. Paul (1991)
B.A., St. Olaf College (1987)

Experience:
Research Molecular Geneticist, USDA Forest Service (2000-2004)
Post-doc, Smithsonian Institution (1997-1999)

Courses Taught
Biology of Complex Systems, Genomics and Bioinformatics, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Woody Plants Western Great Lakes Region, Biology Teaching, Biological Research

Awards and Recognition
Distinguished Faculty Award for Research 2012
Dean’s Award for Research 2007

Research Area
Network and Systems Biology; DNA Linguistics; Plant Molecular Ecology; Scientometrics and Philosophy of Science, Wittgenstein; Gene regulatory networks, promoter networks, and/or protein similarity networks and the evolution of natural languages.

Recent Publications

• Aldrich PR, El-Zabet J, Hassan S, Briguglio J, Aliaj E, Radcliffe M, Mirza T, Comar T, Nadolski J, Huebner CD (2015) Monte Carlo tests of small-world architecture for coarse-grained networks of the United States railroad and highway transportation systems. Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications 438, 32-39
• Aldrich PR, Horsley R, Turcic S (2012, in press) Hybridization network for the system of woody plant gene pools in the United States. Plant Biosystems
• Aldrich PR, Horsley RK, Turcic SM (2011) Symmetry in the language of gene expression: A survey of gene promoter networks in multiple bacterial species and non-σ regulons. Symmetry 3: 750-766.
• Aldrich PR (2011) Diffusion limited aggregation and the fractal evolution of gene promoter networks. Network Biology 1(2):99-111.
• Aldrich PR, Cavender-Bares J (2011) Quercus. In: Kole C, editor. Wild Crop Relatives: Genetic, Genomic and Breeding Resources, Volume 10: Relatives of Forest Trees. Heidelberg: Springer.
• Aldrich PR, Horsley RK, Ahmed YA, Williamson JJ, Turcic SM (2010) Fractal topology of gene promoter networks at phase transitions. Gene Regulation and Systems Biology 2010(4): 75–82.

Preston Aldrich, Ph.D.
Professor, Biological Sciences
[email protected]

Network and Systems Biology; DNA Linguistics; Plant Molecular Ecology; Scientometrics and Philosophy of Science, Wittgenstein.

Research
Research will explore sources and amounts of human mortality and map this information to the tree of life. Which organisms are killing humans as a source of sustenance, and which phylogenetic groups are most prolific as agents of human mortality? Basically, who is “eating” us? The answer ranges from the microscopic (viruses, bacteria, and protists) to the macroscopic (bears, packs of wild dogs). The project is to put numbers to these dynamics and place the findings in a phylogenetic context. The student will be directly involved in writing computer code and analyzing open-source online data, conducting literature surveys, writing, etc. Summer research will be done remotely online and will require periodic synchronous Zoom or in-person meetings with the project coordinators, Dr. Preston Aldrich (biology) and Dr. Jeremy Nadolski (math). Experience with python and/or R statistical programming is a plus but is not required; ability to use basic software like MS Excel and access to the internet is required. Interest in biomedical research is assumed.

Preston Aldrich, Ph.D.
Professor, Biological Sciences
[email protected]

Network and Systems Biology; DNA Linguistics; Plant Molecular Ecology; Scientometrics and Philosophy of Science, Wittgenstein.

Research
Research will explore sources and amounts of human mortality and map this information to the tree of life. Which organisms are killing humans as a source of sustenance, and which phylogenetic groups are most prolific as agents of human mortality? Basically, who is “eating” us? The answer ranges from the microscopic (viruses, bacteria, and protists) to the macroscopic (bears, packs of wild dogs). The project is to put numbers to these dynamics and place the findings in a phylogenetic context. The student will be directly involved in writing computer code and analyzing open-source online data, conducting literature surveys, writing, etc. Summer research will be done remotely online and will require periodic synchronous Zoom or in-person meetings with the project coordinators, Dr. Preston Aldrich (biology) and Dr. Jeremy Nadolski (math). Experience with python and/or R statistical programming is a plus but is not required; ability to use basic software like MS Excel and access to the internet is required. Interest in biomedical research is assumed.