Taylor Lab, University of California Berkeley (Postdoctoral Scholar, 2020 – 2023)
While in the Taylor lab, I published what is still the most extensive time-series study of outdoor airborne fungi. I followed this with the publication of the largest survey of agricultural soils for Coccidioides fungus, the organism responsible for the respiratory disease, Valley fever. In both cases, I evaluated >1000 samples using custom pipelines I developed for processing raw sequencing data into rich visualizations and statistical analyses. I coordinated field and laboratory operations with our laboratory technician and collaborative writing and data analysis with epidemiologist colleagues in the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. My current manuscript, investigating Coccidioides in soils along waterways, is nearing publication. I recently presented the results of this work at the 2023 Ecological Society of America conference.
Lipson Lab, San Diego State University & UC Davis (Doctoral Researcher, 2013 – 2019)
My doctoral research in the Joint Doctoral Program in Ecology between SDSU and UC Davis focused on how soil microbial communities in Arctic ecosystems influence wetland methane emissions. I participated in several field seasons in Alaska to collect soil core samples which I then used to generate metagenomic profiles of the soil microbial community. I produced the first metagenomic dataset of the soil microbial community in the western interior of the Alaskan North Slope, and published my findings showing that methane emissions are correlated with both the structure of the microbial community and the soil pH of this region. I have presented my doctoral research at the American Geophysical Union conference, and the data that I generated have been used in landscape-level methane emissions models.
Department of Biology, San Diego State University (Instructor, 2017 – 2018)
I taught the upper division “Experimental Ecology” class for two semesters. I was responsible for developing a curriculum focusing on experimental design, field data collection, statistical analysis, data visualization and scientific writing for undergraduate students. I organized several field studies at various locations in San Diego County and I designed and implemented the first undergraduate lesson plan to teach students the R programming language in the context of ecology at San Diego State University.
Gauquelin Lab, Aix Marseille Université (Visiting Research Scientist, Summer 2016)
During my PhD I initiated the first graduate research exchange program between San Diego State University and Aix Marseille Université in Marseille, France. I was given the opportunity to pursue a paid research project at Aix Marseille Université, but was required to undertake all of the logistics required to get the program off the ground, which involved facilitating communication between professors and administrators at both universities. While at Aix Marseille Université, I generated a Mediterranean soil carbon dataset at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence Oak Observatory field station.
DoubleBlinded Inc. (Founder, 2016 - 2017)
I co-founded a research and data-analysis company focused on providing clients with access to small-scale experimentation similar to clinical trials. Though our concept of low-cost, agile and individualized testing was an exciting idea (there was interest from researchers at Mt Sinai, MIT and Columbia University as well as Y Combinator), regulatory and profitability constraints convinced us to pause our idea after a year of operations.
Schmidt Lab, University of Colorado Boulder (Research Intern, 2011 – 2012)
I studied the effect of temperature on the growth rate of fungal isolates responsible for wintertime CO2 emissions in the Rocky Mountains. This work was published in a book chapter on cold-adapted microbes.
Virovek, Inc. (Laboratory Technician, Summer 2008)
I made custom adenovirus vectors based on client specifications.
FivePrime Therapeutics, Inc. (Research Intern, Summer 2007)
I assisted researchers engaged in high-throughput screening of extracellular domains for cancer and diabetes therapeutics.
Technical Skills
Publications
Wagner, R., Montoya, L., Head, J. R., Campo, S., Remais, J., & Taylor, J. W. (2023). Coccidioides undetected in soils from agricultural land and uncorrelated with time or the soil fungal community on undeveloped land. PLOS Pathogens, 19(5), e1011391. doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1011391
Phillips, S., Jones, I., Sondermyer-Cooksey, G., Alexander, T. Y., Heaney, A. K., Zhou, B., Bhattachan, A., Weaver, A.K., Campo, S.K., Mgbara, W., Wagner, R., … & Head, J. R. (2023). Association between wildfires and coccidioidomycosis incidence in California, 2000–2018: a synthetic control analysis. Environmental Epidemiology, 7(4), e254. https://www.doi.org/10.1097/EE9.0000000000000254
Head, J. R., Sondermeyer-Cooksey, G., Heaney, A. K., Alexander, T. Y., Jones, I., Bhattachan, A., Campo, S.K., Wagner, R., … & Remais, J. V. (2022). Effects of precipitation, heat, and drought on incidence and expansion of coccidioidomycosis in western USA: a longitudinal surveillance study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(10), e793-e803. doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00202-9
Wagner, R., Montoya, L., Gao, C., Head, J. R., Remais, J., & Taylor, J. W. (2022). The air mycobiome is decoupled from the soil mycobiome in the California San Joaquin Valley. Molecular ecology, 31(19), 4962-4978. doi.org/10.1111/mec.16640
Wang, Y., Yuan, F., Yuan, F., Gu, B., Hahn, M. S., Torn, M. S., Ricciuto, D.M, Kumar, J., He, L., Zona, D., Lipson, D. A., Wagner, R., … & Xu, X. (2019). Mechanistic modeling of microtopographic impacts on CO2 and CH4 fluxes in an Alaskan tundra ecosystem using the CLM‐microbe model. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 11(12), 4288-4304. doi.org/10.1029/2019MS001771
Pérez Castro, S., Cleland, E. E., Wagner, R., Sawad, R. A., & Lipson, D. A. (2019). Soil microbial responses to drought and exotic plants shift carbon metabolism. The ISME journal, 13(7), 1776-1787. doi.org/10.1038/s41396-019-0389-9
Wagner, R., Zona, D., Oechel, W., & Lipson, D. (2017). Microbial community structure and soil pH correspond to methane production in Arctic Alaska soils. Environmental microbiology, 19(8), 3398-3410. doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13854
Davidson, S. J., Sloan, V. L., Phoenix, G. K., Wagner, R., Fisher, J. P., Oechel, W. C., & Zona, D. (2016). Vegetation type dominates the spatial variability in CH4 emissions across multiple arctic tundra landscapes. Ecosystems, 19, 1116-1132. doi.org/10.1007/s10021-016-9991-0
Schmidt, S. K., Frankel, S. R., Wagner, R., & Lynch, R. C. (2013). Do Growth Kinetics of Snow-mold Fungi Explain Exponential CO2 Fluxes Through the Snow?. In Plant and Microbe Adaptations to Cold in a Changing World (pp. 245-253). Springer New York. doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8253-6_21
Conference Proceedings
Wagner, R., Montoya, L., Gao, C., Head, J. R., Remais, J., & Taylor, J. W. (2021, April). The air mycobiome is decoupled from the soil mycobiome in the San Joaquin Valley Coccidioides immitis endemic region. Proceedings of the 65th Annual Coccidioidomycosis Study Group (Vol. 2021, pp. 22-23). CSGProceedings2021
Wagner, R., Oechel, W. C., & Lipson, D. (2017, December). The Effect of a Reduction in Microbial Diversity on Greenhouse Gas Production in Alaskan Tundra Soils. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2017, pp. B23D-2093). 2017AGUFM.B23D2093W
Wagner, R., Oechel, W. C., Zona, D., & Lipson, D. (2016, December). Microbial Community Structure and Soil pH Predict Methane Production in Alaskan Tussock Tundra. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2016, pp. B13D-0638). 2016AGUFM.B13D0638W
Wagner, R., Zona, D., Oechel, W. C., & Lipson, D. (2015, December). Chemical and Physical Controls, and Microbial Implications, on Methane Fluxes During an Unusually Warm Spring Thaw in Barrow, Alaska. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2015, pp. B31C-0559). 2015AGUFM.B31C0559W
Davidson, S. J., Sloan, V., Phoenix, G., Wagner, R., Oechel, W., & Zona, D. (2015, April). Improving understanding of controls on spatial variability in methane fluxes in Arctic tundra. In EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts (p. 500). 2015EGUGA..17..500D
Wagner, R. (2014, December). A Comparison of Possible Physical, Chemical, and Microbial Functional Gene Controls on Methane Cycling at Two Distinct Sites on the Alaskan North Slope. In AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts (Vol. 2014, pp. GC14A-05). 2014AGUFMGC14A..05W
Fellowships, Scholarships and Awards