Kay has a diversity of research interests that generally focus on plant evolution in human altered environments. She is particularly interested in weedy and invasive plants and uses these species to investigate the genetic basis of rapid evolutionary change. Her research also includes adaptation to climate change, crop evolution as well as the evolution of plant sexual systems.

Convergent local adaptation to climate in distantly related conifers. Yeaman, S.†, Hodgins, K.A.†, Lotterhos, K., Suren, H., Nadeau, S., Degner, J.C., Nurkowski, K.A., Smets, P., Wang, T., Gray. L., Hamann, A., Holliday, J.A., Rieseberg, L.H., Aitken, S.N. 2016. Convergent local adaptation to climate in distantly related conifers. Science 353 : 1431-1433. doi:10.1126/science.aaf7812 molecular-ecology-resources-16-coverExome capture from the spruce and pine giga-genomes. Suren, H.†, Hodgins, K. A.†, Yeaman, S.†, Nurkowski, K. A., Smets, P., Rieseberg, L. H., Aitken, S. N. and Holliday, J. A. (2016), Exome capture from the spruce and pine giga-genomes. Molecular Ecology Resources 16: 1136–1146. doi:10.1111/1755-0998.12570 103 Ambot coverAdapting to a warming world: Ecological restoration, climate change and genomics. Hodgins, K.A., Moore, J. 2016. Adapting to a warming world: Ecological restoration, climate change and genomics. American Journal of Botany 103 pp 590-592. doi:10.3732/ajb.1600049 MBE 33 coverExpression divergence is correlated with sequence evolution but not positive selection in conifers. Hodgins, K.A.†, Yeaman, S.†, Nurkowski, K., Rieseberg, L.H., Aitken, S.N. 2016 Expression divergence is correlated with sequence evolution but not positive selection in conifers. Molecular Biology and Evolution 33, pp 1502-1516. doi:10.1093/molbev/msw032.