Dr. Heather Schneider Joins the Conservation and Research Department
The Garden is pleased to welcome Dr. Heather E. Schneider as the new Rare Plant Biologist in the Conservation and Research Department. She will focus on the most vulnerable of California’s native plants, those 1300 rare or endangered species.
Dr. Schneider received her Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of California, Riverside, in 2010, with a focus on plant ecology and invasive species. Following graduation, she worked as an Ecologist for the US Geological Survey for two years before accepting a postdoctoral fellowship at UC Santa Barbara in 2013.
Research and conservation of native plants has been part the Garden’s mission since 1926 when noted plant ecologist Dr. Frederic Clements first proposed the new Garden. The current research team includes scientists working to understand and preserve California plants from the genetic level to the ecosystem level. Dr. Schneider will round out this team in this new position with a focus on rare and endangered plants. While much of her work will be done in the field, Dr. Schneider will also be working with the team in the new Pritzlaff Conservation Center.
