Brittany Cavazos

Biography

Brittany Cavazos became interested in ecology as a work-study undergraduate student in an aquatic ecology lab. Shortly thereafter, she explored different areas in biology, including grass endophyte symbiosis, frog diversity in the cloud forest, and grazing effects on plant biodiversity. As an NSF Graduate Fellow at Iowa State University, she worked with Haldre Rogers on fruit-frugivore interactions and the impacts of invasive species. Her research addressed plant phenotypic response to the loss of their animal seed dispersers. She also led her graduate school’s chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science, through which she developed a passion for decolonizing and diversifying ecology and evolutionary biology. She aims to continue her work on plant-animal interactions by building an undergraduate research program and exploring the drivers of plant phenotypic responses.

Education

• B.S., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Rice University
• Ph.D., Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Iowa State University

Courses Taught

• Biology Principles I
• Environmental Botany