Assistant Professor @ Stanford. I care about rural livelihoods, just food systems, and agroecology. Nerding out on soil health, mycorrhiza, & bees. 👩🏽🌾🍄🐝
Some long-awaited news… In summer 2024, I will join
@Stanford
as an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Biology!!
I'm so excited to continue building collaborations, strengthening community partnerships, & mentoring students in agroecological research!
Happy to share that one of my dissertation chapters is out in
@NewPhyt
: “Crop diversity enriches arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal communities in an intensively agricultural landscape”. 🥳 🥬🥦🌶🥕🍆🥒🍓🥳
I finished my PhD a year ago, but my dad still continues to tell me how proud he is of me.
My dissertation was dedicated to my parents. My work is inspired by all the land they’ve called home. Importantly, my parents have taught me more than what a book can offer.
As we continue to grieve the lives lost to police brutality and racism (Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, & more), with the leadership of
@kenleecalhoun
&
@prettynwhitty
several of us ask
@ESPM_Berkeley
to take anti-racist actions bc words are not enough.
Since today is
#WorldSoilDay
, I thought I'd share some of my favorite things related to soils – especially those that remind us that the line between science and society is blurred. A thread 🧵 (1/n)
Our paper is out! Led by Margiana Petersen-Rockney & Peter Bauer, we demonstrate how "diversifying" processes in agroecosystems are needed to increase "adaptive capacity" (the ability to respond flexibly to ecological stressors). 👩🌾🐄🍅🦠💧
@ESPM_Berkeley
I'm so happy!!! Fresno County is finally vaccinating Food & Ag workers starting today (3/1). So I spent this morning (successfully) booking appointments for my parents and extended family. I feel so much relief. ❤️
I'm looking forward to recruiting lab techs, PhD students, and postdocs for the Agroecology Research Group
@Stanford
. If you are interested in working with me, please reach out!!
Thrilled to have our very own
@soilsandbees
as
@ESPM_Berkeley
's 2021 Distinguished Lecture by a Graduate Student! Please join us for her talk on Thursday 👩🏾🌾🐝🌷🍆
(see subtweet for more zoom details)
Sharing this piece about my dad’s story (from farm worker to cattle driver) that I’ve been thinking about for years. Sharing something so personal is scary but I am so grateful that this story is part of the
@commonmag
#FarmworkerPortfolio
— led by
@TrustMiguel
💫
I should mention- we also got funding for course development & a TA-ship. People need $ support for this work! I'm inspired to be working w/
@prettynwhitty
,
@KenzoEsquivel
,
@phoebeparkers
, & others in
@ESPM_Berkeley
Graduate Diversity Council. There's power in collective action!
#UBC
conservation biologist Claire Kremen is the winner of the 2020 Volvo Environment Prize, recognizing her world-class research on how humanity can feed itself while also protecting
#biodiversity
.
Remember: BIPOC organizers and communities got us here. TY ❤️ Let’s go into this decade fighting and following the lead of BIPOC — for truly radical change. We need more. ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
#Milwaukee
#atlanta
#Philadelphia
#Detroit
With everything going on, it was good to get some good news today. A former mentee emailed me that she got accepted to a master’s program (fully funded via a fellowship 🥳).
When my family immigrated, their “home” traveled in the form of recipes and seeds/plants.
Food is love for my family. So for my graduation, they prepared 2 goats in barbacoa - which results in a 2 day celebration.
#FoodAroundTheWorld
#FoodAroundTheWorld
means carrying traditions from El Pedregal Hidalgo to the Central Valley California.
Barbacoa is a community celebration. Meat is carefully wrapped in pencas de maguey(agave) & slowly cooked underground. Thank you for sharing
@soilsandbees
& congrats!
Wow! This was so wonderful. My dad got to tune in and listen to me nerd out about soil health and mycorrhizal fungi – in Spanish!!! This makes this career path completely worth it! Thank you
@flordefrijol
and
@FarmlandCA
🥕🌶🥦🥬🥰
Looking forward to joining Pepe Reyes en El Gallito, 93.7FM Bakersfield this afternoon to talk about soil heath via
@FarmlandCA
. Thanks
@flordefrijol
for coordinating!
@doctora_nature
I still remember filling out applications and not knowing what to put for my parents education because “less than high school” didn’t capture it...
From experience being in *liberal* college towns, I feel this so much!
@BalaChaudhary
saying *location of the college is not a driving factor for racism in academic settings...where I teach (Chicago), which is very diverse, stem programs are still predominantly white* 🙌
#ESA2020
OM Gosh, the
#ESA2020
Ecology Underground live session has >230 participants tuned in this morning! All eager to hear renowned ecologist
@BalaChaudhary
speak about her research and anti-racism leadership in
#ecology
.
Can't wait to join Liz (
@lizwcarlisle
) for the launch of her incredible new book, "Healing Grounds". 🙌 Also, it is such a treat for Ricardo Salvador (
@cadwego
) to be moderating! 🙌 Join to hear about climate, justice, and regenerative agriculture.
We're doing a virtual book launch for Healing Grounds!
Tuesday, March 29, 10am PT/11am MT/noon CT/1pm ET
Ricardo Salvador (
@cadwego
) is moderating!
Aidee Guzman (
@soilsandbees
) is speaking!
I will be soaking up their wisdom!
Join us!!:
A sneak peek of one of my dissertation chapters that was recently accepted... I'll share more when the final published version is available. 😊
#mycorrhiza
We're coming home!! Starting in July 2021, I will officially be joining the faculty of
@ESPM_Berkeley
as an Assistant Professor! I'm honored/humbled to join an amazing network of colleagues at
@UCBerkeley
, and excited to return to my home state.
#BlackandSTEM
@BlkMammalogists
Best papers of 2021 in ecology and evolutionary biology (and some related fields), according to members of Mordecai (
@morde
), Peay (
@mykophile
), and Fukami labs at
@Stanford
Another highlight of this years SSSA conference is meeting someone who grew up just 8min away in a similar little farmworker community in the Central Valley … who is also doing sustainable ag work! We’re out here, Val!
@vxl_zxy_zxy
✊
Thank you
@prettynwhitty
for keeping me grounded this year! 🥰And, especially, for your support this semester when several of us in
@espmgdc
decided to lead a course on anti-racism in environmental science! ✊
Check out our paper in
@Ecology_Letters
led by
@claire_willing
! 💫 🌲 We find that soil fungal communities are structured by habitat fragmentation. In contrast, root-associated fungi are conserved despite habitat fragmentation. 🌲 See thread for more details!
For me even realizing there was a “hidden academic language” was challenging. I’m in my 6th year & I’m only now realizing I could have asked for more from faculty. My immigrant parents have a 1st grade education (at most) so academia could might as well be another planet for them
The Agroecology Research Group will ask ecological Qs in agroecosystems (biotic interactions to ecosystem functioning)–framed by the principle that agriculture is not isolated from socio-political contexts. In doing so, I hope we can support farmers through research & outreach.
If I had one wish this coming year, is that reviewers for all these (fellowship) applications would ignore all typos and think "2020 IS NOT NORMAL. I'll let this typo pass".
#PhDChat
#AcademicChatter
Yes! So incredible to see this much support from
@ESPM_Berkeley
alum. I love the support for
#BlackintheIvory
! But, now, it is time to see these anti-racist actions into fruition. ✊
#COVID19
has reached the rural town I grew up in. My heart has been hurting. Many in my family are farm workers or factory workers and are also undocumented. They pick and can the food we dearly cherish right now. They're not protected. Not now. Not ever.
I wonder if
@michaelpollan
would considering revising Omnivore’s Dilema, in which Joe Salatin was prominently featured, for a 2nd edition and including BIPOC leaders who’ve long been pushing agroecology and just food systems such as
@UrbanTilth
Thank you
@itatiVCS
for the encouraging advice on advocacy and STEM for shy folks! It's a journey but it is crucial to get our voice - when the anger fills our bellies - out there for change.
#ReclaimingSTEM2020
Looking forward to joining Pepe Reyes en El Gallito, 93.7FM Bakersfield this afternoon to talk about soil heath via
@FarmlandCA
. Thanks
@flordefrijol
for coordinating!
Lastly, I truly still can't believe that this is the journey I am on… younger me in that small rural town in the San Joaquin Valley would have never imagined I'd be a professor...
Dig into the practice, research discipline, and social movement of agroecology with
@ucsccasfs
at 1:30 PT on 10/7. This esteemed panel includes
@UCBerkeley
PhD student
@soilsandbees
!
Register here:
Translation my dissertation dedication message in image above:
For my mom and dad,
who crossed mountains and hills,
always carrying in their heart their love for their land.
Thank you for everything and, above all,
for reminding me to never forget my roots.
Also shoutout to
@soilsandbees
for doing the sledge-hammering in her nice outfit right before hosting a faculty search town hall for
@ESPM_Berkeley
! We’re lucky to have a lab full of amazing women soil scientists who are never afraid of getting their hands a little dirty
Looking forward to being part of this event! Come hear other wonderful people chat about agroecology ✊❤️🍓🍇🥬🥦🌶🥕❤️✊. Thanks for the shoutout
@adamjcalo
!
So happy to share that our research on how on-farm diversification supports specialist pollinators,
#squashbee
, and
#nativebees
is published! Just in time for🎃season!
Most of all, I am so happy to demonstrate how small-scale farmers in the Central Valley are supporting bees.
Gabe Trujillo was tragically taken from his loved ones while doing PhD fieldwork in Mexico. It’s been an incredibly painful loss for his community. Please consider supporting his loved ones in celebrating his life:
Congrats, Damian!! He was a strong support for me and others in
@ESPM_Berkeley
. When it felt like ppl weren’t listening, Damian along with
@fishteph
were there for us.
After a few years, I am super excited that a research project I finished a week before I started grad school is finally published- my first first author! It took a lot of sweat and tears as I navigated the confusion and stress of grad school. Bees! 🐝
“Fossey’s “active conservation” included physical torture, psychological torture, and kidnapping of local people near her field site in Rwanda, as she enacted a neo-colonialist conservation program rooted in white supremacy.”
This journey is not possible without community. So I'm continuously grateful for all the colleagues, friends, and family who have supported and cheered me on… 💫 Thank you all so so much. 💫
Please share widely!!👩🏽🌾 There's an incredible opportunity to work with UC cooperative extension to provide services to small/mid-scale, diversified, and socially disadvantaged farmers...👩🏽🌾🌶🍆🥕🍓🥬👩🏽🌾 And you get to work w/ farm advisors, like
@valleyruth
, doing amazing work!
There's still time to apply for 7 new Small Farms Community Educator positions! Join our team working to expand UC Cooperative Extension services around the state for small- to mid-scale, diversified, and socially disadvantaged farmers:
The US election is tomorrow. If you, like me, are tired of horse-race-style reporting, and need to zoom out, I wanna tell you a story. It’s about an ancient force influencing the election. And, as a bonus, it’ll give you an Easter egg to watch for as the returns come in. THREAD
That said, growing up, my family’s language was that of kindness. 💕There was no politics of scarcity -that plagues academia. My parents always said “donde come uno, comen dos”.
“Sustainable farming practices are happening in the Valley, and if these farmers are actually providing (soil health benefits) then, shouldn’t we think about them more? And support them?”
@highcountrynews
Yes! This completely made my day! This needs to be assigned in all environmental science/studies courses! We need to stop separating the environment from the racist and unjust structures that form it.
#BlackLivesMatter
There’s no doubt that California’s San Joaquin Valley is an agricultural powerhouse. But what does the future hold?
✨Read about the visions for more sustainable use of fallowed lands in this region.
By
@theo_whitcomb
for
@HighCountryNews
.
“We’d really like to see land be retired around communities where there's massive overpumping,” said
@water_doctora
of
@LCJandA
.
@theo_whitcomb
reports on the future of California's San Joaquin Valley.
Very cool paper in
@PNASNews
! Having mentors and advisors we can relate with matters so much for our desire to persist in STEM.
Also I'm so elated to have been cited by these badass women 🤩💪🏾
Composting is an exciting process. In
@edgeeffectsmag
, Michelle Niemann
@mlniemann4
writes on how "today’s composting methods are a product of imperial science and plantation agriculture": (9/n)
Ooof not going to lie all the
#Botany2022
tweets have made me feel so nostalgic... Botany was the first national conference I attended and I have so many good memories –– including meeting the amazing
@xingonaDirtSci
Second, I want to share how the stars aligned when I met
@soilsandbees
many moons ago when we attended the Botany conference. As
@KenzoEsquivel
said it, “everyone knows Aidee” and you are truly blessed to get the opportunity to meet her. Photo of 1st meeting and now:
I often get the same question when discussing the role of soil biodiversity in agriculture: but what about yield?
To this question,
@frantecol
provides a great thread on why we need to go beyond a reductionist view on soil biodiversity.
A common response to studies finding that certain agricultural practices reduce soil biodiversity and functioning is "BUT DOES IT REDUCE YIELD"
In my opinion, this question is a symptom of a reductionist world view. Here's why. 🧵
a sense of belonging in academia = friends who see you for your whole self… 🥲
thank you
@katrinawnoFEMA
since we first met at a conference over 7 yrs ago!
Second, I want to share how the stars aligned when I met
@soilsandbees
many moons ago when we attended the Botany conference. As
@KenzoEsquivel
said it, “everyone knows Aidee” and you are truly blessed to get the opportunity to meet her. Photo of 1st meeting and now:
#EntSoc19
If you want to come hear about how
#squashbee
🎃 🐝 respond to farm diversification practices, I’ll be giving a talk today (11/17) at 2:20pm in Rm 262. 🎃 🐝 Also catch other amazing pollinator 🐝 🐝 talks in the same session.
@EEB_POC
Yes! Thank you for this work.❤️A push back to "Revise all course syllabi to include 50% or more Black scholars & scholars of color" in our letter to faculty is that it's *unfeasible*. This is wrong. It perpetuates the notion that BIPOC don't belong/exist in environmental sciences
Thank you for these resources! ❤️ You can't think about agriculture without considering Black farmers. Right now, Black farmers are leading the way to make agriculture more sustainable and undo the trauma that settlers caused by weaponizing agriculture.
As requested: My wellness statement for students:
1. "Working until exhaustion is NOT a badge of honor; it shows that you are out of balance." As an educator, I play an important role in modelling that behavior for students. Please consider a similar statement for your classes
Just a quick reminder that no matter where we live or what challenges our communities face, there is still *so much* worth saving. This is a photo from
#Bakersfield
, the supposed "armpit of California," and a beautiful place that I am proud to call Home.
#BringBackTheKern
@agronomistag
@Luehea
Generally, I would be incredibly careful to solely rely on AMF root colonization as the sole predictor of AMF benefits to plant hosts. There are a number of other AMF traits to consider. E.g. hyphal length in
@DrTreseder
paper: 6/
@agronomistag
Next, greater/lower root colonization does not always equal greater/lower AMF benefits. Improvement in P uptake via AMF does not always track w/ greater root colonization. Take a look at
@Luehea
paper: 3/
@agronomistag
@Luehea
AMF are functionally diverse. We are flawed to think that root colonization will always predict AMF benefits or AMF diversity should always track with root colonization. Please take a look at Chagnon et al. 2013 in Trends in Plant Sci and other AMF functional diversity lit. 4/
As we gather around food today, let’s remember that it was (most likely) Indigenous hands who picked your food. Many displaced Indigenous peoples are forced out of their lands due to climate change (south of the border) only to get their labor exploited in the name of agriculture
Also read Josh Schimel's book, Writing Science, while you're at it!
Complicated language, verbosity, and inaccessibility in scientific articles is rampant and ridiculous.
If I can't understand a paper, I often leave convinced that the author doesn't really understand it either
What's a compassionate way to handle the following situation: Two students who are partners living together w/ a newborn baby submitted the exact same homework?
We are going through difficult times but cheating is never a great alternative.
#AcademicTwitter
A BIG happy birthday to my best friend
@soilsandbees
! Thank you for imbuing the world with creativity, kindness & joy. I’ve loved growing alongside you since 2013 MEChA Nationals in San Diego to 2023 ESA in Montreal. And the best is yet to come 💫
I’m so proud of you, friend.
On top of being an awesome scientist, Christine's been such a great role model for me since coming to grad school and I'm sure for many, many others as well! Thanks
@ScrapNaturalist
: )
#BlackAFinSTEM
Soils are beautiful and complicated. What are some of your favorite things about how society influences or is influenced by soil?
#WorldSoilDay
(12/12)
@JorgeRH2O
is the absolute best. That's the tweet.
But, no really, there's nothing like the feeling of support and love. Thank you, Jorge for helping me out today - and with a short notice!
@agronomistag
@Luehea
@DrTreseder
To your question “where does the increased [AMF] diversity come from?”, I would recommend you take a look at
@BalaChaudhary
recent paper “Trait‐based aerial dispersal of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi” . 7/
Please consider using to generate a transcription of your recorded talk for
@ESA_org
#ESA2020
. Upload as handout. It’s quick and easy and allows everyone to engage with your talk! 🙂
#disabilityinclusion
How do
#AMF
fungal inoculants impact soil microbial communities, drought resiliency, & 🍅 yields? It depends! Our research shows that when plants are💧 stressed, AMF inoculation helps, but can ⬇️ yield in non-drought conditions
@CDFAnews
@yvonnesocolar
Just needed to retweet again. Please consider donating. Black Earth Farms came through for me hella at the beginning of COVID-19. Their work is so admirable. 💕
@agronomistag
Our study also did not test for AMF diversity or root colonization “benefits” to the plant host in the agronomic sense (e.g. fruit production, P uptake, etc.). So stating that there are no benefits from increased diversity in our study is incorrect and misleading. 2/
This is such a cool study!! 🤯
@claire_willing
explores the response of bacterial communities, in redwood roots and soils, to changes in water availability–– across a *natural water-availability gradient*!!! 🌲 💦💦 💧 💧 🌲
Check out our work on redwood associated bacteria and how these communities shift in response to water-availability! With Grady Pierroz,
@DevinColemanDer
, and Todd Dawson🌲
@soilsandbees
@WoRCSLab
Thank you Aidee & current & former lab-members & colleagues that have been such an important part of this work. This award is for all of us, bringing to world attention critical need to transform agriculture through agroecology to support biodiverse $ socially-just food systems
Our paper shows how farmers who have increased crop diversity bolster AMF diversity and richness despite the legacy of monocultures in CA’s San Joaquin Valley. Thanks,
@jhshea11
and
@NatureAtCal
for the write-up!
🥬🥦🌶🥕🍆🥒🍓