Sierra JechPostdoctoral Scientist

Published by Bella Skotnick on

sierra.jech@nau.edu

    Sierra Jech is a postdoc with the Drylands & Intermountain Restoration Team (DIRT Lab). Her primary role is helping to coordinate CrustNet (https://crustnet.org/index.html), a globally distributed network of biological soil crust research sites. Sierra is launching CrustNet in North America by installing 10 sites by the end of 2025. Sierra is also helping to develop training materials for CrustNet collaborators and managing the molecular work and analyses for the project. Sierra’s research background is in soil microbial ecology and dryland restoration. She earned a PhD with Dr. Nichole Barger at the University of Colorado, working on biological soil crust restoration on the Colorado Plateau. Sierra earned a master’s degree with Dr. Mark Teece at SUNY-ESF working on microbialite lipidomics. Sierra has a dual bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Earth Systems Science from the University of Wyoming. For more information, visit https://sierrajech.weebly.com/.

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