Biography
Zoe is a PhD candidate in the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, where she applies the tools of ecology to agricultural systems. Her PhD research examines the impacts of crop biodiversity on yields, nutrient cycling, and both economic and environmental outcomes for farmers. In particular, her work studies the effects of intercropping—growing more than one crop within a field, during the same season—using methods of meta-analysis, field experimentation, spatial modeling, and farmer interviews.
Prior to beginning her PhD, Zoe was the lead staff for the Chair of the Water and Land Committee at the Hawai'i State House of Representatives, and a Princeton-in-Africa Fellow at Mpala Research Centre in Laikipia, Kenya.
Originally from the Big Island of Hawai'i, Zoe graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University, where her senior thesis quantified impacts of anthropogenic nutrient pollution on near-shore coral reefs in Bermuda. She completed her MS in Environmental Science and Management at UCSB.
Outside of science, Zoe loves trail running, ocean swimming, and cultivating her veggie garden.