Contact Information:
919-513-2058
2318 Plant Science Building
Dr. Joe Gage
Assistant Professor
Joe was a communications major as an undergraduate, did brief stints as a rice geneticist and resident plant expert in a microbiology lab before beginning to work with maize in 2013. When he’s not running, climbing, hiking, camping, parenting, or playing with his dog, he studies genomics in maize and other crops as a member of the Crop and Soil Sciences department at NCSU.
Katelyn Fritz
Research Specialist
Katelyn grew up on a hobby corn farm in Iowa and then spent most of her undergraduate degree wanting to get as far away from working in corn as she could. As hard as she tried she still ended up working at a small NGO in Guatemala studying, you guessed it, corn. After graduating Katelyn moved to NC to pursue a master’s studying quality traits in peanut. After her masters Katelyn finally gave in and decided to embrace her corn destiny and joined the Gage Lab summer of 2022.
Dr. Stef Elorriaga
Postdoctoral Scholar
Stef grew up in Caracas, Venezuela. She moved to the USA to pursue her higher education. She obtained a B.S. in Electrical Engineering at Penn State University. She worked as an analog circuit designer for 2 years before acknowledging that engineering was not her calling (even though she had known it all along). She moved with her husband and two cats to Corvallis, OR, to change her career and ended up with a M.S. in Biological and Ecological Engineering (she stubbornly could not give up the engineering title…it sounds so smart and put-together) and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology of forest trees (finally she pursued what she loved). She has been in love with plants her entire life and with genetics and trait inheritance even since she learned of Gregor Mendel’s work. She is interested in understanding gene regulation from both an individual gene level and a global genomic level. Her PhD work focused on modifying essential flowering genes in eucalypts, poplars, and aspens. Her first two years as a postdoc scholar in NC State focused on making synthetic promoters to modify gene expression. Her current postdoc work focuses on understanding the effects of active uORFs on gene expression and protein translation. As a native South American and an expert in arepas and cachapas, she thinks corn is the best grain.
Dr. Nate Korth
Postdoctoral Scholar
Nate hails from Fayetteville Arkansas where there is very little corn but moved to the state of Nebraska (where there is quite a lot of corn) for his PhD. His research focused on using quantitative genetics to identify nutritional components of sorghum that impact the human gut microbiome. A side project on quality protein popcorn paired with a desire to improve agriculture in the face of climate change was enough. Nate joined the Gage lab in January 2024 to study the soil microbiome and its role in corn’s resistance to climate stress.
Dr. Sontosh Deb
Postdoctoral Scholar
Sontosh did his BS and MS in Forestry at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh, where he also worked as a faculty member before joining the University of Alabama for his PhD in 2017. He studied evolutionary genomics at UA, focusing on the structural and functional impacts of whole-genome duplication in maize and palms. He joined the Gage Lab in August 2024 to study allelic gene regulation and its effects on gene-environment interactions. Sontosh enjoys watching movies and traveling in his spare time, but nothing beats a cozy evening with a cup of tea and a good book.
Ty Thomas
PhD Student
Ty grew up in small town Iowa surrounded by agriculture. After two years serving others in Mexico, he started a bachelors degree at BYU-Idaho in Music and switched to Agronomy as soon as he took a class in plant science. He focused his bachelors in data science and genetics to prepare for graduate school. He spends all his spare time with his Wife and 2 boys at their new home near NCSU, where he studies plant genetics in the Gage Lab.
Jordan Cummings
PhD Student
Jordan grew up in North Eastern Wisconsin and was always interested in science. For undergrad, she attended UW-Madison, first as a Biological Systems Engineering major, until she learned what engineering entailed. By her sophomore year, Jordan was a Genetics and Genomics major and soon after picked up Agronomy as a double major. She worked for Dr. Bill Tracy during her undergraduate career on Team Sweet, where she discovered her love for plant genetics and plant breeding. For graduate school, she made the big jump from sweet corn to field corn. Jordan joined the Gage Lab in the Fall of 2023 with Dr. Jim Holland as a Co-advisor for her Crop Science PhD. She is also a Genetics and Genomics Scholar. In her free time, you can find her exploring Raleigh, crocheting, or painting!
Laide Rasaki
PhD Student
Laide, raised in Southwestern Nigeria, developed a keen interest in agricultural systems amid productivity challenges in his locality, leading to a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science with a focus on Animal Nutrition. Following this, he interned at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), gaining experience in forage breeding, goat improvement breeding, and poultry feed formulation. Motivated by the effects of climate change on forage production, he pursued a dual master’s degree in molecular plant breeding under the Erasmus Mundus Plant Breeding program (emPLANT+) at two European Universities. Currently, he is a Doctoral student in the Crop Science program, co-advised by Dr. Amanda Hulse-Kemp, Laide is also a Genetics and Genomics Scholar. His research involves the development and integration of genetic tools and computational methods into plant breeding systems for accelerated crop improvement. In his leisure, he enjoys table tennis and reading spiritual and financial books.
Jaswinder Kaur
PhD Student
Jaswinder hails from a small town of northern India, where being always surrounded by agriculture she found her passion for the field. She persuaded BSc in Agriculture from Punjab Agricultural University. For her graduate school, she got her MS in Plant Science, with focus on plant pathology. By the end of her MS, she realized that want to work with plant breeding and genetics. Jaswinder joined Gage lab in Spring of 2024 with Dr. Susana Milla-Lewis as her co-advisor for her PhD in Crop Science. Her research is focused on turf-grass breeding and genetics. She spends all her spare time drawing, sketching, hiking and painting
Cole Hammett
MS Student
Cole grew up in Central Missouri, emersed in agriculture from a young age through involvement in 4-H and FFA. Growing up around livestock, he found his passion in plants which keep quieter and smell way better. During high school, Cole worked for the University of Missouri’s Soybean Breeding program in Columbia where they were first introduced to the plant breeding world. Cole graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 2024 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Plant Biology. While studying in the Cornhusker state, he worked in four different labs that all studied different crops. Wrapping up their undergraduate as a member of UNL’s Small Grains Breeding Lab, Cole did a research project analyzing wheat under drought stress using aerial images taken by a drone. This led to them joining the Gage lab as a master’s student in Plant Pathology in the June of 2024, co advised by Peter Balint-Kurti. His research is on the use of unmanned aerial systems and machine learning for the classification of resistance to Southern corn leaf blight.
Janani Ambuga
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Janani developed a deep interest in genetics while growing up in India. She pursued a degree in Biotechnology Engineering at Vellore Institute of Technology before transferring to North Carolina State University, where she shifted her focus to a B.Sc. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, with a minor in Genetics. In the summer of 2023, she joined the Gage Lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant. In addition to her research in genetics, Janani is passionate about animal anatomy and works in a Comparative Anatomy and Functional Morphology Lab. She aspires to pursue a career in healthcare. Outside of academics, she enjoys dancing and reading poetry.