HerStory: Audrey Barker Plotkin Meet Audrey Barker Plotkin

Current Position: Forest Ecologist, Harvard University

Education:

• B.A. in Biology, Carleton College
• M.S. in Forestry, University of Maine

Awards/Accomplishments:

• 2019 – Received the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Distinction Award
• 2019 – Began a Ph.D. Program at the University of Massachusetts while continuing her work at the Harvard Forest. “I want to let people know that it is never too late to further your education.”

Areas of Interest: Studying how forests respond to climate change and how forests change over time

Why is it important to you to represent women in STEM?

“If we want to do good science and engineering and technology and math, we need all hands on deck. So, women and men are equally able to do that work and we need everyone we can to contribute.”

Past ORISE Participant:

Aug. to Dec. 1990 – Science and Engineering Research Semester (SERS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory