# Interested in joining the lab? Reach out to Minya!

Min Ya 闵娅 (she/her; ymin@illinois.edu)

(TMI, but… : Min is my family name and Ya is my first name. So in some contexts my name will be displayed as Ya Min (e.g. in publications) and it’s normal to refer to me as Ya (but that’s not my fav way to be called). Growing up in China, it’s very common for friends and families to call someone’s full name, so I decided to write my name as Minya so that people can call me the name that I prefer. )

Minya did her undergrad in Sichuan University (China) and Hokkaido University (Japan), obtained her Master’s degree in Uppsala University (Sweden) and University of Montpellier II (France), and got her PhD at Harvard University (USA). She loves all things plants & plant development, cooking & cocktail, playing piano, and all sorts of rock & indie music especially the heavy ones.

Link to CV and university faculty website here. Bluesky: @minyaaa.bsky.social‬ (RIP academic twitter @_minyaaa)

Angelique Acevedo (she/her; aaa14@illinois.edu)

Angelique joined the Min Lab in 2025 as a Plant Biology Master’s student and will be studying the molecular basis underlying phyllotaxy transitions found in Mimulus. Before she joined the Min lab, she spent her undergrad at Cornell University, and post-grad at NYU, investigating the anatomical and developmental foundations for twining architecture in climbing plants. In her free time, she enjoys making pottery (and actually all arts ‘n’ crafts!), exploring the outdoors, and lazing around with her cat.

Sam Pring (he/him; pring2@illinois.edu)

Sam joined the lab in 2025 as a Plant Biology PhD student and will be studying the functional evolution of CYC genes across flowering plants. Before he joined the Min Lab, he received his Bachelor’s in Biology and Linguistics at Bucknell University where he studied the evolution of signaling modality in fireflies, and went on to complete an NSF RaMP post-bacc at the University of Connecticut researching scorpion and plant genomics. In his free time, Sam enjoys baking, watching dramas, and learning about the grammar systems of various languages.