Michelle Geary has a PhD in Plant Biology from UC Davis. Her research focused on photosynthetic physiology of the evergreen tree tan-oak, studying function across years and seasons, across the species range. She’s fascinated by how plants deal with stress, especially stresses that change across time. Dr. Geary’s been teaching plant biology at West Valley College since 2003. She started the redwood project with Jennifer Mo, one of her students, in 2015. In 2017-2018, she took a research sabbatical to expand the project and refine a plan to integrate more research into undergrad education in and out of the classroom. She doesn’t sleep enough, but loves her students and her work.