About Me

Hello! I’m Aishwarya Veerabahu, a 3rd year PhD student in Botany at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I study the ecological impacts, evolutionary history, and human dimensions of invasive Golden Oyster Mushrooms (Pleurotus citrinopileatus). It’s a fascinating project that mixes fieldwork, genomics, and a lot of unexpected surprises.

I earned my B.S. in Biology from UC Riverside, surrounded by the chaparral hills of Southern California that first inspired my love for plants. After graduating, I moved to the forests of the Adirondacks, where I discovered the wild world of fungi—in dazzling shapes and colors—and never looked back.

My current work focuses on understanding how cultivated golden oyster mushrooms have adapted and spread in natural environments. I’m especially interested in collaborating with community scientists to map and collect wild specimens, and to explore how invasion, cultivation, and evolution intersect.

When I’m not in the lab or the woods, you can find me jamming with friends, making art, biking around Madison, hanging out with my dog, or dreaming up oddball ideas. I believe science should be joyful, inclusive, and a little bit weird—and I try to bring that spirit to everything I do.

If you’d like to talk mushrooms, science, or just say hello, feel free to get in touch.