Mailing Address:
Fifield Hall
2550 Hull Road
PO Box 110690
Gainesville, Florida 32611

Office: 2111 Fifield Hall
Phone: (352) 273-4835
E-mail: alp@ufl.edu
Lab: UF Space Plants

• Areas of Research

  My research interests focus on the regulation of plant gene expression in response to abiotic stress and extreme environments, with a particular interest in chromatin structure, genome organization, and epigenetic change. Venues associated with spaceflight provide an opportunity to explore plant genomic responses to an environment that is outside the evolutionary experience of terrestrial organisms.  This unique platform presents a background by which adaptive metabolisms can be observed as they are crafted to cope with a stress de novo; providing a window into the origins of adaptive processes.

• Educational Background
  • B.A., Botany, University of South Florida (1980)
  • M.S., Plant Phys. / Physiological Ecology, University of South Florida (1984)   
  • Ph.D., University of Florida, Molecular Genetics / Epigenetics (1989)
  • Postdoctoral, UF and Northwestern University, Chromatin Architecture (1990-95)
• Work Experience
  • 2020 – present, Director, UF Interdisciplinary Center for Biotechnology Research (ICBR)
  • 2015 – present, Research Professor, Horticultural Sciences
  • 2018 – present, Graduate Faculty, Genetics and Genomics
  • 2012 – present, Graduate Faculty, Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology
  • 2009 – present, Graduate Faculty, Horticultural Sciences
  • 2008 – 2015, Research Associate Professor,  Horticultural Sciences, UF
  • 2005 – 2008, Associate Scientist, Horticultural Sciences, UF
  • 1996 – 2004, Assistant In, Horticultural Sciences, University of Florida
• International Experience
  • 2016 – present, German Space Agency (DLR), Bremen Germany - The EDEN ISS project, including deployment to Neumayer Research Station, Antarctica
  • 2004 – present, University of Guelph, Guelph Ontario, Canada – hypobaric Mars analog habitats
  • 2006 – 2011, Arctic Research in the Canadian High Arctic – the Haughton Mars Project on Devon Island
• Honors and misc. Academic Experience
  • AAS, Space Life Sciences Award, for 20 years of seminal plant science research on the ISS and exploration environments, 2023
  • Member, NAS Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space (CBPSS), 2023-2026
  • AAAS Fellow, 2022
  • ISSRD Compelling Results Award for ground-breaking contributions to plant Space Biology, 2022
  • ASGSR Fellow, 2019
  • ASGSR Founder's Award, 2021
  • NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal, 2019
  • President, American Society for Gravitational and Space Research, 2017-2018
  • Award for most compelling results on the International Space Station (awarded jointly to A-L Paul and R.J. Ferl), 2015
  • NASA GeneLab, Science Council, 2013 - 2016
  • NASA GeneLab KSC Science Element Lead –  IPA October 2013 - 2016
  • Governing Board, American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology 2005-2008, 2013-2016
  • Board Member, Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG), 2012 - present
  • Editor in Chief, Journal: Gravitational and Space Biology, 11-2010 – 2016
  • Graduate Coordinator, Program in Plant molecular and Cellular Biology, Jan 2013 - 2014
  • Lead IFAS Cohort Member, March 2012 through March 2013
  • Board Member, international Space Station Standing review Board (ISS SRB) 2012-2013
  • Science Writing Academy Participantand UF /HOS representative to National Association of Science Writers and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing in November 2013