Avery is a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science at the CalAcademy, where they leverage vast amounts of community science data to model ecological patterns across diverse landscapes. In their PhD at Stanford they studied the concerted impacts of climate change and wildfire on the geographic distribution of California tree species. Avery's research is most broadly motivated by the need to understand the biological and ethical drivers that will shape the geographic patterning of future ecosystems.
Search for Academy curators, collections managers, and research staff working to answer some of the world's most pressing scientific questions.
Biodiversity Data Postdoctoral Researcher
Biogeography, Botany, Fire ecology, Data science
DNA Barcoding Postdoctoral Researcher
California Insect Barcode Initiative
Dr. Anna Holmquist is a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Comparative Genomics (CCG) working on a multi-institutional project to generate a comprehensive DNA barcode reference library for all Californian insects by utilizing museum collections. Holmquist received her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in May 2023. She is broadly interested in understanding the processes behind biodiversity formation and promoting resilience.
Assistant Curator of Botany and Howell Chair of Western North American Botany
As a curator in the Botany Department at the California Academy of Sciences, Dr. Sarah Jacobs is part of a core team of scientists that collectively curates the Academy’s collection of over 2.3 million herbarium specimens. As the Howell Chair of Western North American Botany, she is particularly focused on guiding and shaping the collection of Western North American plants, ensuring their preservation, growth, and relevance into the future.
Director, Center for Biodiversity and Community Science
I direct the Center for Biodiversity and Community Science and the Thriving California initiative at the California Academy of Sciences. For most of my academic career, I have focused on color pattern evolution and untangling the evolutionary history of nudibranchs.
Senior Research Fellow, Entomology and Center for Comparative Genomics
To understand and help sustain our biodiverse planet, my lab at the California Academy of Sciences engages in transdisciplinary scienceto seek solutions to challenges from conservation to emerging infectious disease to forest resilience in a changing climate. I work in close collaboration with several groups at the Academy including the MicroLife lab as well as Entomology, the Center for Comparative Genomics and Ornithology and Mammalogy.
Visiting Researcher, Microbiology
Dr. Nur Faeza Abu Kassim is a medical entomologist that specializing in mosquito role of transmitting mosquito-borne diseases. Her work focuses on the biology, ecology, genetics and control of vector mosquitoes. The main research interest is on vector mosquitoes and its role/relation into epidemiology of disease transmission, mosquito-microbiome and novel mosquito control strategies such as sugar bait technology and odor mediated nectar-foraging for mosquito-borne diseases particularly from flavivirus group.
Head Librarian
Rebekah Kim has worked more than 10 years as a well-respected library professional in the Bay Area at institutions such as Dolby Laboratories, Google, the Computer History Museum, the GLBT Historical Society and The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. In these roles, she helped capture Google’s early history, assisted the production team for the movie “Milk” (2008, directed by Gus Van Sant) and processed physical and digital archival materials from the dawn of the computing age.
