Holly Bik is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Nematology at the University of California, Riverside. She obtained her Ph.D. at the University of Southampton, UK (working in conjunction with the Natural History Museum, London), followed by subsequent postdoctoral appointments at the University of New Hampshire and the University of California, Davis. Her research uses environmental genomics and computational biology tools to explore the biodiversity of microbial eukaryotes in diverse habitats, with an emphasis on free-living nematodes in deep-sea sediments. Aside from research, she is heavily involved in science communication and social media, serving as Associate Editor for the popular marine blog Deep-Sea News (http://deepseanews.com) and maintaining an active presence on Twitter (@hollybik). Full details of Holly's research program and outreach efforts can be found on her lab website: http://biklab.github.io
I am a female marine biologist who using cutting edge DNA sequencing and computational algorithms to study microbial species in marine sediments (this includes beach sand to deep-sea mud). My research sits at the interface of biology and computer science, and my personal research expertise is equally interdisciplinary. I am trained in traditional morphological taxonomy of nematode worms (identifying specimens under the microscope) as well as genomic lab protocols and computer programming (Perl/python programming and command line tools). My expertise thus spans a broad number of STEM disciplines, including ecology, evolution, molecular biology, taxonomy, computer science and data visualization. Aside from research I am passionate about science communication and public outreach. I am lead author on several peer-reviewed studies focused on online outreach tools and the use of social media by scientists. In addition, I write regular blog posts to communicate scientific findings to general audiences.
