Shayla is a cycadologist, fundamentally interested in the evolutionary biology and ecology of cycads and their biological associations with symbionts, pollinators, a
nd pests. She obtained her BS in Genetics and Plant Biology from UC Berkeley, during which time she worked in the Specht Lab focusing on the evolution of AOX genes in cycads (for which she won the Melis award and graduated with honors) and on reconstructing a phylogeny of Costus (Salzman et al. 2015). She completed her PhD at Harvard with Naomi Pierce, and has an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship for her current work on co-evolution of cycads with pollinators.
Shayla is also mother to a lovely 4yo named Laurel and partner to a husband named Rory.