Instructors

Krikor Andonian is a plant ecologist specializing in plant-soil microbe interactions and biological invasions.  He earned his PhD from UC Santa Cruz and has served as a university lecturer on topics ranging from ecology and evolution to physiology and research methods.  Krikor’s broader interests include natural history and wildcrafting medicinal and edible plants as well as human evolution and anthropology.  He is an energetic and engaging instructor who feels most at home with students in the field.

Tim Miller is an evolutionary ecologist with research interests in pollination biology and phenotypic plasticity. Originally from Pennsylvania, he earned a BA at Colby College in Maine and a PhD at UC Santa Cruz. Tim fell in love with California at first sight, and he spends much of his free time exploring the state. An avid all-around naturalist, you are most likely to encounter him staring high into trees through binoculars, flipping over logs on a rainy night, or hunched over an unusual plant with a magnifying lens. 

Sarah Kingston is a molecular ecologist studying organisms’ adaptive responses to a dynamic environment. She earned her BA from The College of William and Mary, an MSc in Marine Biology at the College of Charleston, and her PhD in Behavior, Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics at the University of Maryland, College Park in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution. Sarah enjoys tide pooling, snorkeling, and diving for both work and leisure. Having spent the last few years in Maine, she can also be found exploring nature with her dog, even if that requires a set of snowshoes.

Renske Kirchholtes is a paleoecologist with research interests in geology and climatology. She earned her BSc and MSc at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and her PhD from UC Berkeley where she studied plant microfossils. Renske feels at home in the lab, the greenhouse and in the field. She likes to spend her free time outdoors, be it cycling, running or exploring the woods with her puppy in tow.