4007 Valley Life Sciences Building
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3140
Email: istein@berkeley.edu

Research Interests:

I am broadly interested in how abiotic factors affect the distribution and composition of plant communities. I have worked previously in tropical forests, grasslands, and more recently in tidal wetlands. My exposure to various hydraulic processes sparked my interest in the role of water in shaping and ultimately linking ecosystems together, which has led me to focus on the plant-water relations of trees. For my research I hope to investigate this theme among species representing different functional types across a secondary tropical forest chronosequence, in order to better understand how climatic and hydraulic conditions might affect processes of forest recovery and development.

Education

2014-present             Ph.D. Student in Integrative Biology

UC Berkeley – Dawson Lab

2008-2010       B.A. Environmental Science

Mills College – Oakland, CA

2005-2007       Field-based coursework in ecology, natural history and botany

Prescott College – Prescott, AZ

Publications

Swope SM and IR Stein 2012. Soil type mediates indirect interactions between Centaurea solstitialis and its biocontrol agents. Biological Invasions 14: 1697-1710.

Honors and Awards

2014                Honorable mention, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship

2008 – 2010    Dean’s Scholarship $13,500 per year awarded to outstanding incoming transfer students at Mills College

2010                Jill Barret Research Fellowship $2,000 prestigious grant awarded to juniors, seniors and recent graduates to conduct summer research projects with faculty in the Biology department at Mills College

2008                Ralph DuCasse Scholarship $2,500 awarded as a departmental honor for demonstrated excellence in painting at Mills College

2008 – 2010    Vera M. Long Scholarship $2,000 per year for women in science at Mills College

2005 – 2007    John Wesley Powell Grant $2,000 per year, Prescott College