Hello
In January 2021 I’ll be joining the Smithsonian Institution Data Science Lab as a Biodiversity Genomics Postdoctoral Fellow. I am fascinated by the very small: those organisms that are easily overlooked by macrobes like ourselves. I am also excited by extremophiles: those that can survive and thrive in conditions thought to be difficult for life itself. These interests come together in studying mosses. These small plants have found a way to only truly ‘live’ when conditions are right (that is, when enough water is present), and dry out and go quiescent when water is absent. For desert mosses that is most of the time! Yet, almost miraculously, dryland mosses are able to quickly begin to grow and thrive again, while recovering from damage that accumulated while they were desiccated. I find this process fascinating and I am interested in thinking about the evolutionary (both micro and macro) implications of this way of life.
BLACK LIVES MATTER
Interests
- Evolutionary Biology
- Botany
- Data Science & Bioinformatics
- Fine Arts
Education
Ph.D. in Integrative Biology, December 2020
University of California, Berkeley
M.S. in Environmental Science, Biology Option, 2015
California State University, Los Angeles
B.S. in Biology, Chemistry Minor, 2012
Purdue University, Indianapolis
B.A. in Religious Studies, 2012
Indiana University, Indianapolis
