She is a Fulbright Scholar, having taught and conducted research in Siberia at Gorno-Altaisk State University. She has also been the Biology Professor as a Visiting Lecturer for the Semester At Sea program where she taught Biology, Conservation, and Medicine around the world.

She has been appointed by the Secretary of the Interior of the United States to the Central California Resource Advisory Council for the Bureau of Land management.

When not working on her research on Giant Sequoias she loves to backpack. She leads High Sierra backcountry seminars on horseback for Rock Creek pack Station. She has completed solo hikes of the John Muir and High Sierra Trails through the Sierra Nevada, hiked through the Alps on The Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt, and is a Pacific Crest Trail section hiker. She is the author of several books and peer-reviewed scientific research papers. She lives in the Sierra Nevada with her family