Ian S. Gilman

Department of Biology, Fairfield University

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BNW 236E, Bannow Science Center

1073 North Benson Road

Fairfield, Connecticut 06824

I’m a faculty member in the Department of Biology at Fairfield University. My research examines major evolutionary shifts in plant photosynthetic metabolism — particularly C4 photosynthesis and Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) — and uses these shifts as general models for how complex traits evolve. My approach spans scales, from single-cell/single-nuclei sequencing of individual species to developing new phylogenomic and comparative methods. See current projects and publications for more.

news

Aug 01, 2026 New website is live at gilmanlab.com.
Aug 01, 2024 “Convergent evolution of desiccation tolerance in grasses” (Marks, Pas, Schuster, Gilman & VanBuren) published in Nature Plants.
Jan 01, 2024 “Predicting photosynthetic pathway from anatomy using machine learning” (Gilman, Heyduk, Maya-Lastra, Hancock & Edwards) published in New Phytologist.

selected publications

  1. The CAM lineages of planet Earth
    I. S. Gilman, J. A. C. Smith, J. A. M. Holtum, and 4 more authors
    Annals of Botany, 2023
    DOI PDF Supp Code
  2. Gene co-expression reveals the modularity and integration of C4 and CAM in Portulaca
    I. S. Gilman, J. J. Moreno-Villena, Z. R. Lewis, and 2 more authors
    Plant Physiology, 2022
    DOI PDF Code
  3. Crassulacean acid metabolism
    I. S. Gilman and E. J. Edwards
    Current Biology, 2020
    DOI PDF