Jacobs Lab
California Academy of Sciences | Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability | Department of Botany
Our Team.
In the same way that we know that biological communities are more resilient when there is diversity, we think that human groups are also more resilient, stronger, and more enriching when they are diverse. Our lab is a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive place for all members of society, independent of their race, religion, ethnicity, or gender.
Text borrowed from my friend and collaborator Anahi Espindola - an amazing human being and scientist. While the text is borrowed, the meaning is no less authentic.
Assistant Curator, Dr. Sarah Jacobs
sjacobs@calacademy.org
I was born and raised in the southern US and made the move "west of the Rockies" after my undergraduate at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. I completed a Masters degree at Washington State University, a PhD at the University of Idaho, and a postdoc at UCLA. I've also worked professionally for the Forest Service.
Herbaria and collections-based research have been at the center of my work from the beginning of my interest in plants, throughout my education, and into my professional career. My original love of taxonomy led to a fascination with systematics and evolution. I am particularly interested in how speciation proceeds, especially the early stages, and how we think of "species" in light of that knowledge. My work with Castilleja lets me ask the question, "How does speciation happen in plants" from all sorts of angles.
Rose Postdoctoral Scholar, Dr. Ren Hamm
rhamm@calacademy.org
Roaming the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, Ren developed a fascination with native plant biodiversity at a young age. This passion bloomed into professional curiosity through early herbarium management during their undergraduate time at Rhodes College where they were captivated by locally adapted polymorphism. Ren received their Ph.D. in Plant Biology from UC Berkeley in 2025 for their work identifying the genomic underpinnings of drought adaptation in Yellow Monkeyflower across a heterogeneous environmental landscape. Their current work in the Jacobs Lab deciphering the porous species boundaries of Paintbrush Flowers continues their dedication to leveraging herbarium and extant genomics to protect native diversity in the face of worsening climate extremes.
Ren has been a bioinformatician for over 9 years, throughout which additionally serving as a mentor, DEI facilitator, and science communicator. They are deeply committed to both radical inclusivity within scientific organizations and broadening research accessibility to the greater community. After all, research that doesn't include everyone, doesn't serve everyone!
.jpg)
Graduate Student, Terian Koscik
tkoscik@calacademy.org
Terian joined the lab in August 2025 and is a Masters student at San Francisco State University. She is interested in how parasitism in Castilleja varies geographically and across species. She received Bachelor's degrees in Botany at Oregon State University and Computer Science at Grinnell College. She has worked in botanical garden plant records and as a software engineer.
Terian also volunteers with the collections at The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment in Oakland. She is from Chicago (in her words) which makes up for its lack of oceans and mountains with many fantastic museums and pizzas.
