Biologist Lauren Ponisio earned a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MS and BS from Stanford University. A National Geographic Society Early Career Award winner and honored as a Global Food Initiative 30 Under 30 in Food Systems, Ponisio earned a Moore/Sloan Data Science Postdoctoral Fellowship and National Institute for Food and Agriculture Fellowship. Ponisio joined the University of Oregon Department of Biology in 2020. She is also part of the Institute of Ecology and Evolution. Ponisio studies bees and their roles as pollinators, both in managed and natural-plant communities. She鈥檚 currently leading a pilot study that could change how forestlands in the Northwest are managed, particularly post-harvest and post-fire, to the benefit of wild bees. Her research has examined ways to persuade California almond growers to adopt more bee-friendly agricultural practices; discovered how native bee species may be best equipped to survive intensive agricultural practices and climate change; and analyzed how forest fires can help maintain pollinator biodiversity.

In addition to her research in biological sciences, her mission is to promote human diversity in the sciences.