BCB Spotlight
Kristen Martinet
May 23, 2024Kristen Martinet completed her Ph.D. this spring with University of Idaho’s Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (BCB) program. Kristen came to U of I in the fall of 2019 after speaking with U of I researcher Luke Harmon (Biological Sciences). The research focus in his lab sold Martinet on attending U of I.
While at U of I Kristen’s research focused on species occurrence by geo location. Her work included the development of an R package – Species/Speciation Area Relationship Projector (SSARP) – and specifically on data on the occurrence of an island Anolis species.
One of Kristen’s most memorable experiences at U of I was a research trip to the Galapagos that didn’t go quite as planned. After traveling to Santa Cruz to host a biodiversity workshop, the workshop was unexpectedly canceled. Instead, Kristen participated in field work in the Galapagos with U of I researcher Christine Parent (Biological Sciences). While unexpected, this became an impactful opportunity for Kristen.
This summer, Kristen will be collaborating with Polymorphic Games, U of I’s unique, interdisciplinary, STEM-based video game studio. She will work with researchers Barrie Robison (PI) from the College of Science and Terry Soule (Co-PI) from the College of Engineering on their NIH Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA).
Kristen has accepted a post-doctoral position with the iSchool (School of Information) at University of Arizona. She will be working with Cristian Román-Palacios (Assistant Professor). Congratulations Kristen!
by Michelle Reagan
Scientific Communications and Design Specialist