The College of Natural & Agricultural Sciences at the University of California, Riverside has hired five women to assistant professor positions.
Maria Florencia Ercoli is an assistant professor of plant genetics. Her research explores how root development and root-derived chemistry shape soil microbial communities to improve crop productivity, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and advance sustainable agriculture. Dr. Ercoli received her doctorate in biological sciences from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of California, Davis as a Pew Latin American Fellow.
Carol Tardivo is an assistant professor of horticulture. Her current research aims to develop strategies to help the California citrus industry and specialty crop systems adapt to biotic and abiotic stresses. Dr. Tardivo is a graduate of Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho in Brazil. She holds a master’s degree in plant physiology and a Ph.D. in horticultural sciences from the University of Florida.
Maggie Sogin is an assistant professor of ecological metabolomics. She was an assistant professor at the University of California, Merced. Her research is centered on studying host-microbe interactions in marine plants and animals. Dr. Sogin is a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she majored in marine biology. She received her doctorate in zoology from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and trained as a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany.
Elizabeth Brauer is an assistant professor in fungal biology. Her research focuses on plant-microbe interactions and plant innate immunity. She examines the attack strategies of agriculturally relevant pathogens and uncovers the plant defense responses that provide resistance against attack. Dr. Brauer holds a bachelor’s degree in plant biotechnology and a master’s degree in plant agriculture from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She received a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Cornell University.
Yan Hong is an assistant professor in the department of molecular, cell, and systems biology. She studies how disease-associated genetic variants alter neural development and function in neuropsychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Hong earned her doctorate in neuroscience from Emory University in Atlanta and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania.