Irene Gilchriese

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I recently graduated from UCLA with degrees in Spanish and Anthropology, and though I loved nearly every minute of it, my interests have never really been able to align into particular disciplines. Instead, they’ve spread themselves all over the map into other fields like education, life science, the humanities, and social work. It is with this broad curiosity that I arrive in the Mojave. I grew up in the blue-green sparkle and sprawl of the San Francisco Bay Area, but I’ve always harbored a soft spot for the desert and its whispering—sometimes howling—beauty. Besides being an academia nut, I love good food, good music, good conversation, and bad puns (a recent favorite is describing this position as “intense,” ‘cuz we’re camping, ha!). I’m grateful for the opportunity to throw myself into this new challenge, and I’m ready to learn a lot and conserve the heck out of the desert!