WHO WE ARE
Principal Investigator
Dr. Elizabeth La Rue
Liz (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Biological Sciences at UTEP (ealarue@utep.edu). She earned her PhD at Purdue University in 2017. Her current focus is on species distributions and ecosystem structure -function relationships in plant communities and wildlife habitat.
Students
Anna Downing
Anna (she/her) is a PhD candidate in the EEB Program. She uses UAVs and remote sensing to study the structural features of wildlife habitat across the desert southwest, including post-wildfire restoration monitoring at Lincoln National Forest.
Eli Nyawunu
Eli is in the DEERS Geological Sciences PhD Program and is a CIElOG Fellow. He is focused on using drones and machine learning to monitor rangeland and agricultural plant communities.
Karen Stopani
Karen is an undergrad in the COURI Program. Karen is studying how plant structure, soil microbial communities, and landscape patterns interact to drive ecosystem processes in drylands.
Postbacs
Angie Gutierrez
Angie is a 2025-2026 ROADS Postbac and is studying the remote sensing and ecology of dryland plant and biocrust communities.