Adriana Romero Olivares joined the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences in August 2020 as an assistant professor. Her day-to-day activities vary greatly depending on the day between teaching, research and service.
Romero Olivares is a soil microbiologist with an emphasis on fungi. She is interested in understanding how fungi respond and adapt to environmental stress. Her overall research goal is to better understand and plan for ecosystem-scale effects of global climate change.
“I was interested in being in an institution where I could serve Hispanic students,” she said. “I was also excited to be in the desert, as the desert is the ecosystem I call home, and wanted to do research here. I study fungi, and we don’t know a lot about fungi in the desert, so being in a place where I could do my work and not have to travel very far to see my family was very attractive.”
Romero Olivares grew up in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, about 450 miles south of Las Cruces. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Irvine and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of New Hampshire.
Her awards include the 2021 Excellence in Ecology from the Ecological Society of America, 2021 Interchange Ambassador Award from the Mycological Society of America, Mycological Society of America' s outstanding service as chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee in 2019, an Ecological Society of America Travel Award and Dynamic Womxn of UCI 2017 Academic Achievement Award. Recently, Romero Olivares was among women from around the world featured in the book “Determined to be Extraordinary: Spectacular Stories of Modern Women in STEM.”
“I feel very privileged that I get to do research and discover new things while mentoring students in the process,” she said. “I think I’m most proud of my graduate students. There’s something really neat about seeing someone grow in their scientific journey and then graduate and get the degree they’ve worked so hard on. Some days, I feel like I’m the luckiest person on the planet because of the work that I get to do and the students that I get to work with.”