Academic Background
PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Cornell University
BA, Biology Harvard University
Erika is a forest ecologist whose research focuses on the effects of human accelerated environmental changes in forested ecosystems. She is particularly interested in how introduced forest diseases and pathogens, such as beech bark disease and the hemlock woolly adelgid, impact forest structure and function. Her research program seeks to better understand underlying ecological principles of forest structure and function in order to inform land management practices.
More broadly, Erika is interested in basic and applied botany and plant ecology. She enjoys teaching the plant-related curriculum at Unity and involves students in a variety of service learning projects. Past projects have included conducting plant inventories for the Sebasticook Regional Land Trust and the development of a brochure describing the campus plants of ethnobotanical interest. Under her direction the botany students are updating and enlarging the herbarium collections at the college. She also manages the Unity College greenhouse.
