Postdocs
Barbara Bomfim was a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab with the NGEE Tropics project, quantifying the effects of major wind disturbances on tropical forest nutrient cycling. She is now a Conservation Scientist with WWF- Brasil.
Thomas Powell was a postdoctoral researcher at Berkeley Lab working with the NGEE Tropics team to model tropical forest dynamics in response to climate variability and change. He is now a Visiting Assistant Professor of Forestry at University of the South (Sewanee) and Affiliate Faculty Scientist at Berkeley Lab.
Justin Bagley was a postdoc at Berkeley Lab studying land-atmosphere interactions in managed landscapes of the Great Plains. He now works in the private sector on energy efficiency.
Erin Conlisk was a postdoc and research associate on the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment and is now a Quantitative Ecologist at Point Blue Conservation Science.
Andrew Moyes was a postdoc on the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment, investigating physiological responses of establishing conifers to climate variation, and a researcher with Lara and with Carolin Frank studying nitrogen fixation by bacteria associated with subalpine trees. He is currently a research associate at Berkeley Lab.
Ramona Butz established GLORIA sites at RMBL as part of her postdoc and is currently the Northern Province Ecologist for the Klamath, Mendocino, Shasta-Trinity, and Six Rivers National Forests, US Forest Service.
Graduate Students
Marshall Worsham filed his dissertation in spring 2025 and is now a postdoctoral scholar at Berkeley Lab, continuing to work in the East River watershed. His work continues to blend field observations and remote sensing.
Nicole Lau completed her MS in the Energy and Resources group in 2024 studying forest management, planning, and tree sensitivity to drought. Previously, she was a research assistant with our group, archiving data from the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment. She received a B.S. from the University of Washington, where she focused on forest ecology and forest management in Washington and Colorado.
Valeri Vasquez completed her PhD in the Energy and Resources Group in 2023 studying the use of genetic-based interventions for the control of mosquito-borne diseases under changing climatic conditions. She is now a postdoc at Stanford University.
Adam Hanbury-Brown completed his PhD at ERG in 2022 and is now a postdoctoral scholar at UC Davis with Andrew Latimer and Jennifer Holm (LBNL).
Hilary Henry completed both an ERG Masters and a Masters of Public Policy. She is now a Regional Representative for U.S. Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.
Dianne Quiroz completed an ERG Masters degree quantifying rates of nitrogen fixation and bacterial community composition in conifer foliage in Western U.S. forests.
Meredith Jabis completed her PhD in December 2018, studying alpine community responses to climate variability and change.
Yan Bai was a visiting PhD student, now back at Beijing Normal University completing his PhD on stomatal and canopy conductance in dryland ecosystems using field data and inverse modeling approaches.
Yaqiong Lu completed her PhD in 2013, modeling climate-ecosystem feedbacks in agricultural systems and was a postdoc with Lara and with Elliott Campbell investigating effects of climate changes on crop yields. She is now a Research Scientist at the Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Kaitlin Lubetkin completed her PhD in 2015 on conifer encroachment into subalpine meadows in the Sierra Nevada. She is currently a data scientist with the Great Basin Institute and BLM.
Daniel Winkler’s M.S. research focused on the effects of climate change on alpine plant productivity as part of the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment on Niwot Ridge in Colorado. He received a PhD from UC Irvine and is now a postdoc at USGS.
Miguel Fernandez completed his PhD in 2013 and is now director of Latin American & Caribbean Programs at NatureServe. He uses spatiotemporal tools, such as GIS, remote sensing and species distribution modeling, to understand the effects of global change on biodiversity patterns.
Jennifer Wolf completed her M.S. in Environmental Systems in 2011. Her research focused on characterizing limber pine physiological response to climate change. She currently breeds golden-doodle dogs and volunteers for climate adaptation organizations in Berkeley.
Undergraduates
Elmera Azadpour
Sophia Bagshaw
Claudia Johan
Research Scientists and Associates
Polly Thornton worked on modeling the effects of climate on vegetation productivity, mortality, and distribution and is now an ecologist at Earthshot Labs.
Andrea Campanella was a staff research associate on the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment and is now Assistant Director of the James Reserve and Oasis de los Osos.
Cristina Castanha was a research scientist on the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment and is a Principal Research Associate at Berkeley Lab.
Ethan Brown was a research associate for the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment from 2011-2014 and is now working in the private sector.
Akasha Faist was a research associate on the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment, received a PhD from University of Colorado, Boulder and is now an Assistant Professor at University of New Mexico.
Scott Ferrenberg was a staff research associate with the Alpine Treeline Warming Experiment. He completed his PhD at the University of Colorado, Boulder and is now an Assistant Professor at University of New Mexico.
Gina Radieve was a research associate in the lab and is now working for the California Department of Water Resources.
Kueppers Lab Group 