Faculty collaborator

Marina La Forgia

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Biological Sciences
  • California State University, Sacramento, Class of 2022
Marina LaForgia studies how plant communities and their functional traits are influenced by species invasions and climate change. For more on Marina and the scientists who've influenced her, see this blog, https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/badass-babes-botany

William Hoese

  • Professor
  • Department of Biological Sciences
  • California State University, Fullerton
Terrestrial ecologist Bill Hoese received the CSU 2023 Wang Family Excellence Award -- Outstanding Faculty Innovator for Student Success Award for his innovative work in inspiring students to continue in the life sciences, especially in ecology and environmental sciences. For example, each semester, he leads overnight field trips to the Mojave Desert, where he introduces 300 students enrolled in lower division biology to an ecosystem far different from the bustle and lights of Southern California.

Devin Horton

  • Dean
  • Natural Sciences Division
  • Sacramento City College
Dr. Devin Horton leads the Natural Sciences Division at Sacramento City College (SCC). Dr. Horton graduated from and taught at an HBCU, and served as the UC Davis Graduate Diversity Officer for STEM prior to her appointment at SCC.

Jennifer Burnaford

  • Professor
  • Department of Biological Science
  • California State University, Fullerton
Jennifer Burnaford studies the effects of environmental stressors and human activity on rocky intertidal communities. She integrates a ‘small-scale’ physiological focus with ‘large-scale’ analysis of species interactions to examine community structure in the present and predict patterns under conditions of global change. Studies in her lab focus on organisms from seaweeds (e.g. how will high intertidal rockweeds respond to sea level rise?) to vertebrates (e.g. how do high temperatures during low tide affect the susceptibility of invertebrate prey items to consumption by birds?).

Lani Gleason

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Biological Sciences
  • California State University, Sacramento
Lani Gleason investigates how changes in gene sequence and expression generate patterns of differentiation in marine organisms.  She is especially interested in how environmental conditions, such as heat stress, affect these patterns of differentiation in mollusks such as the black turban snail Chlorostoma funebralis, the red abalone Haliotis rufescens, and the intertidal mussel Mytilus californianus.  She integrates next-generation sequencing techniques with phenotypic assays to interpret large genomic datasets from a functional perspective.  This allows her to make connections across levels of organization, from molecular interactions to organismal performance.