Thesis or Project Title: Tree mortality and regeneration across competitive and geographic gradients in northern California

Advisor: Dr. Lucy Kerhoulas

Sophia helps lead a research project investigating forest mortality and regeneration in northern California. During her four semesters as a graduate student, Sophia has mentored four undergraduate students in field and lab work related to her research, applied for and received six different scholarships/fellowships, and given nine different talks to diverse audiences ranging from the Ecological Society of America to the Siskiyou Field Institute. She is also involved with graduate student clubs, is an active member of her advisors’ research labs, is a lecturer at College of the Redwoods, is an active member of the California Women in Timber North Coast Chapter, and is a Registered Professional Forester. Sophia has successfully navigated her ambitious project with gusto: she completed field and lab work with superhuman speed and efficacy, mastered the relevant literature, adeptly used diverse and sophisticated statistical analyses to make sense of enormous amounts of data, and eloquently wrote up her work into a thesis, all in less than two years. Sophia’s findings will improve understanding about climatic influences on regional forest demographics to improve land stewardship and natural resources conservation. On top of all of these academic strengths, Sophia is extremely friendly, fun, and a joy to work with.