Summer (she/her) is a third year PhD candidate in Dr. Chris Schell's lab studying wildlife genetics and conservation science in the Anthropocene. Wildlife is exposed to human stressors globally - from lethal removal, to being hand fed, to pollutant exposure, to habitat encroachment and climate change. For the majority of species and ecosystems the extent and underlying mechanisms of adaptations to these stressors are vastly unexplored. Her dissertation will utilize genomics and molecular tools to understand ecological and evolutionary adaptations in carnivores across variable anthropogenic pressures within a social-ecological framework. This will include chapters that span a land use spectrum from urban centers to protected wildland, as well as a research focus spectrum from species-specific conservation implications to understanding human-centric drivers of adaptation. This work has three main goals: 1. Assess how anthropogenic stressors dictate carnivore population structure and facilitate evolution; 2. Understand the stress physiology of urbanization and human-wildlife conflict; 3. Investigate how land protection and management strategies influence species assemblages and interspecific competition.
Before joining Cal, Summer worked at Stanford University as a lab manager and academic researcher in Dr. Liz Hadly's conservation biology lab, and previously in Dr. Ami Bhatt's microbiome genetics lab. After graduating from UC Davis in molecular and cellular biology, Summer worked as a veterinary technician and then as a wildlife ranger in Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks.
When Summer is not in lab she enjoys rock climbing, backpacking, performing in musical theater, mountain biking, and cuddling with her four rescued research laboratory cats.
