Emma Steigerwald
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of California, Santa Cruz
I am an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellow and University of California Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Initially I worked with Dr. Beth Shapiro and the Paleogenomics Lab, and now for my independent fellowship I am working with Dr. Rachel Meyer and Dr. Rasmus Nielsen.
I did my PhD in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management. I was co-advised by Dr. Rosemary Gillespie and Dr. Rasmus Nielsen.
Mailing address:
Paleogenomics Lab
University of California Santa Cruz
Thimann Receiving/ EEBio/Biomed/155
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 USA
Email:
esteiger(at)ucsc.edu
Funding:
My work would not be possible without these wonderful institutions, societies, funds, and awards. I am so appreciative for their support!
Where do I work:
Get to know more about the Cordillera Vilcanota, a rapidly deglaciating mountain chain in the Peruvian Andes; its wildlife; and my fieldwork through this gallery from Anton Sorokin. I also made a compilation of short fieldwork videos here.
Other interests:
Photography and natural history
Undergraduate mentees
Eddie Cortes
Eddie is majoring in Computer Science at California State University-Fullerton. He is using Ancestral Recombination Graphs to understand the fate of adaptive genetic variation during range expansion events.
Aixa Ortiz
Aixa is majoring in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz. She is using citizen science data combined with machine learning to predict Pacific newt migrations in space and time, with applications to mitigating newt road mortality.
Dorian Scheim
Dorian majored in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at University of California, Santa Cruz. They are studying how Gaviota tarplant floral traits and plant architecture respond to bioclimatic and anthropogenic factors.
Past undergraduate mentees
Cassandra Gendron
Cassandra majored in Microbial Biology and minored in Conservation and Resource Studies. Now, she continues her work in lab and with microbs as a Process Development Research Associate at Pendulum Therapeutics, working in the development of probiotics. See Cassandra's thesis talk here.
Alanna Cheng
Alanna majored in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley and worked with me on DNA extraction, qPCR, and eDNA primer design. She is now a graduate student at MIT.
Rachelle Smith
Rachelle is majoring in Microbial Biology and following the computational genomics pathway. Graduating in 2024, she hopes to continue her studies through graduate school, eventually working in the bioinformatics field. She is passionate about biological sciences in both its intersection between and broadness to contain both environmental sciences and medicine.
Mrunali Manjrekar
Mrunali Manjrekar was a Bioengineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences major. She continues in the world of research as a PhD student at MIT in the Computational and Systems Biology program, helping to develop statistically and ML-informed computational methods for biomolecular engineering and design.
Phillip Sanvictores
Phillip was a major in Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, whose passion for the sciences has led to further exploration of genetics, biochemistry, and evolution! He continues his work in biology as a Research Associate at Vaxart, Inc., helping to develop oral recombinant vaccines.
Field technicians
Gumercindo Crispin Condori
Gumercindo has worked extensively throughout communities of the Cordillera Vilcanota in collaboration with glaciologists, botanists, herpetologists, and with NGOs addressing nutrition and domestic abuse. He joined our field team as a guide, horse-driver, and Quecchua translator, but turned out to be a highly talented frog finder.
_FieldTeam.jpg)
Peter Condori Ccarhuarupay
Peter studied Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, conducting his honors thesis on the phylogeography of frogs in the Bryophryne genus. He works for the division of Herpetology at the Museo de Biodiversidad del Peru.
Jared Guevara Casafranca
Jared is studying Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco. He is particularly interested in bats, and has led several mist netting expeditions in Manu.
Anton Sorokin
Anton studied Environmental Science, Conservation, and Biology at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He is studying the behavioral ecology of dendrobatid frogs in pusuit of his Masters of Science at the University of East Carolina.
Michelle Oruri Frank Condori
Michelle studied Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco. He is an avid botanist, and currently works on environmental education in the Valle Sagrado outside of Cusco.
Maria Isabel Diaz Huaman
Isabel studied Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco. She is a herpetologist, and contributes to herpetological surveys for environmental impact assessments.
Jean Pier Zolorzano Aitara
Jean Pier studies Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco.
Esau Daniel Baldarrago Huaman
Esau studies Biology at the Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco.