Samantha Naibauer

I am a native Coloradoan who enjoys nature and the outdoors. I am pursuing a Master's degree at the University of Northern Colorado in the Plant Population Genetics Lab. I also received her Bachelor's degree in Ecological and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Northern Colorado. I have always been interested in science, specifically biology. My interests in plants began when I took a field botany course as an undergraduate student with Dr. Mitchell McGlaughlin, who is now my Graduate mentor. As an undergraduate, I researched rattlesnake venom and proteomics, but snakes are dangerous, and plants are not as much, so I changed my research interests in an attempt to live longer. Little did I know, I would be scaling lava flows in Hawaii in search of my lava lover, Dubautia scabra. My current research encompasses my passion for ecology and evolution. I plan on using genetic tools to determine ecological and evolutionary trends at a fine scale. Concern for the environment, particularly related to climate change, is growing worldwide. My research is of great importance in order to understand how organisms might respond to the rapidly changing environment.

June 2017