diff --git a/dev-requirements.txt b/dev-requirements.txt
index a118ce73..a6fcd15e 100644
--- a/dev-requirements.txt
+++ b/dev-requirements.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 mock
 codecov
 pytest-cov
+pytest-tornado
 pytest>=2.8
 notebook
 requests-mock
diff --git a/jupyterhub/tests/test_spawner.py b/jupyterhub/tests/test_spawner.py
index 68dfcf43..91dd7d67 100644
--- a/jupyterhub/tests/test_spawner.py
+++ b/jupyterhub/tests/test_spawner.py
@@ -6,11 +6,14 @@
 import logging
 import os
 import signal
+from subprocess import Popen
 import sys
 import tempfile
 import time
 from unittest import mock
 
+import pytest
+import requests
 from tornado import gen
 
 from .. import spawner as spawnermod
@@ -50,54 +53,64 @@ def new_spawner(db, **kwargs):
     return LocalProcessSpawner(db=db, **kwargs)
 
 
-def test_spawner(db, io_loop):
+@pytest.mark.gen_test
+def test_spawner(db, request):
     spawner = new_spawner(db)
-    ip, port = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.start)
+    ip, port = yield spawner.start()
     assert ip == '127.0.0.1'
     assert isinstance(port, int)
     assert port > 0
     spawner.user.server.ip = ip
     spawner.user.server.port = port
     db.commit()
-    
 
     # wait for the process to get to the while True: loop
     time.sleep(1)
 
-    status = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.poll)
+    status = yield spawner.poll()
     assert status is None
-    io_loop.run_sync(spawner.stop)
-    status = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.poll)
+    yield spawner.stop()
+    status = yield spawner.poll()
     assert status == 1
 
-def test_single_user_spawner(db, io_loop):
+
+@gen.coroutine
+def wait_for_spawner(spawner, timeout=10):
+    """Wait for an http server to show up
+    
+    polling at shorter intervals for early termination
+    """
+    deadline = time.monotonic() + timeout
+    def wait():
+        return spawner.user.server.wait_up(timeout=1, http=True)
+    while time.monotonic() < deadline:
+        status = yield spawner.poll()
+        assert status is None
+        try:
+            yield wait()
+        except TimeoutError:
+            continue
+        else:
+            break
+    yield wait()
+
+
+@pytest.mark.gen_test(run_sync=False)
+def test_single_user_spawner(db, request):
     spawner = new_spawner(db, cmd=['jupyterhub-singleuser'])
     spawner.api_token = 'secret'
-    ip, port = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.start)
+    ip, port = yield spawner.start()
     assert ip == '127.0.0.1'
     assert isinstance(port, int)
     assert port > 0
     spawner.user.server.ip = ip
     spawner.user.server.port = port
     db.commit()
-    # wait for http server to come up,
-    # checking for early termination every 1s
-    def wait():
-        return spawner.user.server.wait_up(timeout=1, http=True)
-    for i in range(30):
-        status = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.poll)
-        assert status is None
-        try:
-            io_loop.run_sync(wait)
-        except TimeoutError:
-            continue
-        else:
-            break
-    io_loop.run_sync(wait)
-    status = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.poll)
-    assert status == None
-    io_loop.run_sync(spawner.stop)
-    status = io_loop.run_sync(spawner.poll)
+    wait_for_spawner(spawner)
+    status = yield spawner.poll()
+    assert status is None
+    yield spawner.stop()
+    status = yield spawner.poll()
     assert status == 0
 
 
@@ -192,3 +205,39 @@ def test_string_formatting(db):
     assert s.format_string(s.notebook_dir) == 'user/%s/' % name
     assert s.format_string(s.default_url) == '/base/%s' % name
 
+
+@pytest.mark.gen_test
+def test_popen_kwargs(db):
+    mock_proc = mock.Mock(spec=Popen)
+    def mock_popen(*args, **kwargs):
+        mock_proc.args = args
+        mock_proc.kwargs = kwargs
+        mock_proc.pid = 5
+        return mock_proc
+
+    s = new_spawner(db, popen_kwargs={'shell': True}, cmd='jupyterhub-singleuser')
+    with mock.patch.object(spawnermod, 'Popen', mock_popen):
+        yield s.start()
+
+    assert mock_proc.kwargs['shell'] == True
+    assert mock_proc.args[0][:1] == (['jupyterhub-singleuser'])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.gen_test
+def test_shell_cmd(db, tmpdir, request):
+    f = tmpdir.join('bashrc')
+    f.write('export TESTVAR=foo\n')
+    s = new_spawner(db,
+        cmd=[sys.executable, '-m', 'jupyterhub.tests.mocksu'],
+        shell_cmd=['bash', '--rcfile', str(f), '-i', '-c'],
+    )
+    (ip, port) = yield s.start()
+    request.addfinalizer(s.stop)
+    s.user.server.ip = ip
+    s.user.server.port = port
+    db.commit()
+    yield wait_for_spawner(s)
+    r = requests.get('http://%s:%i/env' % (ip, port))
+    r.raise_for_status()
+    env = r.json()
+    assert env['TESTVAR'] == 'foo'