I am an Indigenous scholar (Nahua/kitse cha´tña/Zacateco) and a National Science Foundation & Ford Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California, Berkeley.As a trained plant physiological ecologist, I use a diverse range of scientific approaches—including stable isotope biogeochemistry, ecohydrology, global change biology, and Indigenous sciences—to explore how species respond to environmental change. My work connects multiple scientific disciplines to investigate plant-environment interactions across various temporal and spatial scales, with a particular focus on forest mortality and global change. As a postdoctoral researcher, I study widespread tree mortality, specifically in quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides), the most broadly distributed tree species in North America.Raised in East Los Angeles (Kizh lands) and now based in the East Bay (Huichin Ohlone land), I completed my bachelor’s degree from Pitzer College, CA in Environmental Science and my Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in the Dept. of Integrative Biology with Dr. Todd Dawson.

I am a plant biologist interested in how polyploidy and genome size variation contribute to or inhibit adaptation. As a postdoc co-advised by Dr. Ben Blonder and Dr. Moises Exposito-Alonso, I am developing evolution-informed models of quaking aspen mortality for forest management. I completed my bachelor’s from Appalachian State University in Biology and my Ph.D. in Plant Biology from UC Davis with Dr. Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, where my Ph.D. research integrated population genetics and ecophysiology to study the origins and persistence of mixed-ploidy in Andropogon gerardi, an ecologically dominant prairie grass.

I am a plant ecophysiologist who is interested in understanding the mechanisms that allow plants to tolerate environmental stress, particularly heat and drought. Under the guidance of PI’s Dr. Ben Blonder, Dr. Luiza Aparecido, and Dr. Kevin Hultine, I am leading an NSF-funded project to identify adaptive water use strategies to cope with extreme thermal stress across a wide range of plant functional types. During this project I will be working primarily at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ. I previously completed my PhD at the Australian National University with Prof. Owen Atkin, where I studied the acclimation of photosynthesis and respiration to high temperature in wheat. I then worked as a postdoc in Dr. Nick Smith’s plant ecophysiology lab at Texas Tech University, where I continued my research on photosynthetic thermal acclimation. While most of my research has focused on leaf-level gas-exchange, I am also interested in identifying the biochemical processes that underpin physiological responses to warming. Outside of research I enjoy hiking, cooking, crosswords, and discovering new music.