Lisa is from Massachusetts, but her father’s family is Greek and Italian. She earned her undergraduate degree from American University in Washington DC in mathematics. She was originally also studying justice, thinking she’d work for the FBI, but ended up being more drawn to math. She also studied art and architecture abroad in Italy, which gave her the opportunity to meet and learn more about her family there. When she came back to the US, she worked for the Department of Defense as a mathematician, where she loved the work she was doing but became more interested in applying her mathematical skills to answer questions about the natural world. So, she started graduate school at CU Boulder through the IQ Biology program, which allowed her to catch up on biology while still utilizing her mathematical background. She also became involved with the Student Academic Success Center at CU, supporting first-generation college students and other underrepresented groups on campus. This connected her to a larger community on campus whose values she shares. Lisa is co-advised in the Doak and Peleg labs, where she combines math, ecology, and computer science to model animal behavior and species interactions.
