Spring 2024 Seminar Series: Native Voices in STEM
Unraveling Ecosystem Challenges: Investigating Pinyon Decline and Big Sagebrush Resiliency
This professional seminar series invites Native scientists, engineers, activists, community members and leaders to share their personal and professional journeys, providing inspiration to the next generation of change makers. Register once to attend all seminars in Spring 2024.
The April 2nd seminar speaker will be Dr. Demetra Skaltsas. Dr. Skaltsas is an Assistant Professor at the School of STEM, Diné College, specializing in ecosystem health at the microbiome level. With a background in systematics, taxonomy, and fungi research, she actively mentors undergraduate and graduate students in field and lab settings. Holding a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland, she focuses on fungal evolution and ecology, contributing significantly to ongoing projects, including research on pinyon decline and big sagebrush resiliency. More recently, Dr. Skaltsas and her team have initiated research in fungal remediation for uranium contamination on Navajo Nation.