Karen Pham

Karen is a PhD candidate in Geosciences at Penn State and a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow. She received her BS in Geology from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Karen considers herself a paleoecologist and paleobotanist; her work focuses on using quantitative methods to investigate ecological and evolutionary processes such as seed dispersal and speciation in Madagascar. In particular, her dissertation examines how past extinctions of large-bodied animal dispersers, past climate shifts, and human interactions may continue to affect seed sizes and distributional ranges of modern-day Malagasy plants. In her spare time, Karen enjoys cooking, cross-stitching, and learning to play the electric bass. To contact Karen, email [email protected].