Hi! I am Julia and I am a 2025 Stengl-Wyer Postdoctoral Scholar sponsored by Dr. Kemp. I was born and raised in Florida and received my BS from the University of Florida, my MS from East Tennessee State University, and my PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

I am a conservation paleobiologist primarily focusing on small mammal community responses to changing climate. I use the fossil record to explore how communities have responded to changes in the past to help anticipate how these communities will respond to modern and future changes in climate as well as human impacted landscapes. My research utilizes physical functional traits that are preserved in the fossil record and still found in species today as a way to connect these communities across time. Most of my work has focused on North American communities but I have also studied small mammal communities across Africa.

I am excited to bring a community science effort I worked on during my PhD, Fossil Friday, to UT Austin. At this event, members of the campus community and the city of Austin can pick and sort through microfossil rich cave sediments from local central Texas caves. This is material that will be used in my research and it allows the public to connect with and learn about the diversity of life that was around thousands of years ago right in our backyard.