Emily S. Khazan

Emily Khazan is a Ph.D. candidate studying Interdisciplinary Ecology at the University of Florida's School of Natural Resources and Environment in Gainesville, Florida. She received her undergraduate degree in environmental studies from the University of Michigan and her master's degree in biology from the University of Oklahoma.

Emily's interest in ecology began early in life and became the cornerstone of her academic trajectory after working in tropical forests as a student and field technician. As a master's student Emily studied landscape-level conservation in lowland tropical rainforests in Mexico and Costa Rica. She designed and implemented unique behavioral experiments with tree-hole dwelling macroinvertebrates, most notably giant damselflies, complementing data on the life history, distribution, and physiology of the organisms.

After completing her MS, Emily worked as research coordinator of Caño Palma Biological Station in northeast Costa Rica, for which she currently serves as Director of Research and Conservation. In 2017 Emily began her Ph.D. in interdisciplinary ecology, studying butterfly communities in the Colombian Andes. Her research integrates physiology, behavior, and community ecology to better understand biodiversity patterns across human-modified tropical landscapes.