Education:

Ph.D., Plant Biology (emphasis Microbiology), May 2009 (Summa Cum Laude) Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona.

M.S., Plant Biology (emphasis Mycology), December 2004 Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, Arizona.

B.A., Education, May 1992 Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana.

Awards and Honors:

• Herbert M. Saylor Memorial Scholarship presented by the Sonoma County Mycological Society (May, 2004).
• ASU School of Life Sciences Initiative Program Grant (January, 2004).
• Michael A. Cichan Memorial Award presented by ASU School of Life Sciences (December, 2003).
• ASU Graduate and Professional Students Association (GPSA) Research Grant Awards (November, 2003).
• Sigma Xi Grants-In-Aid (April, 2003)

Research Support:

• Surveying unexplored soil biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa to enhance agricultural productivity, Winslow Foundation Grant. Role: collaborator; PIs: Diana Wall (CSU) and Noah Fierer (CU); Period: 2010-2012.
• Microbes associated with surfaces and food items in the kitchen: Diversity, distribution, and sources of bacteria, Sloan Foundation. Role: collaborator; PIs: Dr. Noah Fierer (CU) and Dr. Rob Knight (CU); Period: 2011-2012.
• Turning sand into sandstone with microbial biomineralization, CU Innovative Research Program. Role: collaborator; PIs: Dr. Noah Fierer (CU) and Dr. John Zhai (CU); Period: 2011-2012.

Teaching Experience:

University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Boulder, CO

• Instructor: EBIO4800/5800 Critical Thinking: Microbial Ecology (fall semester 2011), BIO 3400 Microbiology (summer semester 2011).
• Guest lecturer: EBIO 4800/5800 Critical Thinking: Soil Ecology (fall semesters 2009 and 2010).

Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ

• Teaching assistant/guest lecturer: PLB 400/401 Lichenology (spring semesters 2005, 2007, and 2009), PLB 402 Mycology (spring semesters 2004 and 2007).
• Teaching assistant: PLB 108 Introduction to Plant Biology (traditional lab sections - spring semester 2003), PLB 108 Introduction to Plant Biology (online lab sections - spring semester 2003 and fall semesters 2003, 2005, and 2007).

Positions Held:

• Postdoctoral Researcher, The Fierer Laboratory (December 2010 - current).
• Adjunct Researcher, The Denver Botanic Garden (March 2011 - current).
• Visiting Fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (August 2009 - December 2010).
• Research Assistant NSF funded "Prokaryotic Diversity of Biological Soil Crusts in Aridlands of North America" (eukaryotic extension, Doctoral dissertation project) ASU School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ (fall semester, 2006 and spring semester, 2008).
• Herbarium Staff ASU Lichen Herbarium (voluntary, June 2004 - 2009).
• Lichen Identification Expert Forest Inventory and Analysis program, USDA Forest Service (May 2004 - March 2008).
• Coordinator American Bryological and Lichenological Society Lichen Exchange (voluntary, December 2003 - November 2005).
• Third Grade Teacher - ESL classroom, Osborn School District, Phoenix, AZ (1997 - 2002).
• Crew Chief High School Volunteer program, Student Conservation Association (summers, 1994 - 1996).
• Environmental Educator Elementary Environmental Education program, Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville, NY (1993-1994).
• Wilderness Trip Leader Teen Adventures program, Frost Valley YMCA, Claryville, NY (1993).
• English Language Instructor Centro de Estudios Inter-Americanos, Cuenca, Ecuador (1992 - 1993).

Training Student Researchers:

• Noble Lilliestierna (Master's student), University of Colorado at Boulder, Dept. of Architectural and Civil Engineering, Boulder, CO - biological mineralization (spring 2011 - graduated December 2012).
• Garrett Cropsey (Undergraduate honor's thesis), University of Colorado at Boulder, Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Boulder, CO - molecular biology/ecology (fall 2009 - spring 2010).
• Sheetal Boosi (Master's student), ASU School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ - molecular biology (fall 2008).
• Jessica Groch (Undergraduate), ASU School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ - molecular biology (spring 2008).
• Anne Barber (Undergraduate), ASU School of Life Sciences, Tempe, AZ - slime mold classification and general research (fall 2007).
• Angel A. Garcia (Undergraduate), Universidad Metropolitana, San Juan, PR - molecular biology/ecology (summer 2007).
• Xavier Arturo Lopez (Undergraduate), Universidad Central del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador - systematic mycology (fall 2006 - spring 2008).
• Rebeca A. Guerro (Master's student), University of Texas, El Paso, TX - molecular biology (summer 2006).
• Samantha Standley (Undergraduate), ASU Plant Biology Department, Tempe, AZ - molecular biology (spring 2004).

Professional Services:

• Ad hoc reviewer: USGS (internal), BMC Evolutionary Biology, Canotia, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, ISME Journal, Journal of Arid Environments, Microbial Ecology, Mycologia, Mycotaxon, PLoS ONE, and Soil Biology and Biochemistry.
• Peer reviewer for research proposals: Austrian Science Fund, National Science Foundation, and Icelandic Research Fund.
• Project coordinator: Mycology Collections data Portal (MyCoPortal, web-based data access technologies serving herbaria with mycological collections, 2011-current).
• Production editor and website manager: Canotia (a publication of the ASU Vascular Plant Herbarium, 2006-current).
• Project coordinator and website manager: The Arizona Mycota Project (AMP, enlisting civilian scientists to document fungal diversity in Arizona, 2006-current).

Workshops Organized/Taught:

• Mushrooms and Lichens of the Colorado, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), Aspen, CO (August 2011).
• Colorado Mountain Mushrooms, Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), Aspen, CO (August 2010).
• USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis program forester training session, Durango, CO (May 2009).

Workshops Attended:

• São Paulo School on Ecological Networks, in conjunction with the State University of Campinas, the University of São Paulo and the Brazilian Association for Ecological Science, São Pedro, Brazil (September 2011).
• Managing Herbarium Data using SYMBIOTA Software, Madison, WI (August 2011).
• First International Workshop on Tropical Lichenology, in conjunction with the TICOLICHEN project, Costa Rican Lichen Biodiversity Inventory, Las Cruces Biological Station (Organization for Tropical Studies), Costa Rica (October 2004).

Meetings Attended:

• Plant and Animal Genome (PAG XX), San Diego, CA (January 2012).
• Earth Microbiome Project and National Ecological Observatory Network joint meeting, Boulder, CO (November 2011).
• LTER Fungal/Microbial Genomics Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (May 2011).
• The 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME-13), Seattle, WA (August 2010).
• Botany 2010, joint meeting with the American Bryological and Lichenological Society (ABLS) and the Botanical Society of America (BSA), Providence, RI (July 2010).
• Annual Meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), Lexington, KY (June 2010).
• Closing Conference: Conservation and Sustainable Management of Below- Ground Biodiversity, World Agro-Forestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya (May 2010).
• Annual Meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), State College, PA (August 2008).
• Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Lichenology (IAL), Asilomar, CA (July 2008).
• Annual meeting of the Arizona Botanist, Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix, AZ (February 2008).
• Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ (November 2005).
• Deep Hypha Group Meeting, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (March 2005).
• Annual meeting of the Arizona Botanist, Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix, AZ (February 2005).
• Annual meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), University of North Carolina, Asheville, NC (July 2004).
• Annual meeting of the Arizona Imaging and Microanalysis Society (AIMS), Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (April 2004).
• Annual meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), Asilomar, CA (July 2003).
• Arizona Nevada Academy of Science meeting (ANAS), Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ (March 2003).

Oral Presentations:

• Plant and Animal Genome (PAG XX), San Diego, CA; entitled "Global Distribution of Dominant Archaeal Populations in Soil", S.T. Bates, D. Berg-Lyons, J.G. Caporaso, W.A. Walters, R. Knight and N. Fierer (January 2012).
• The 13th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology (ISME-13), Seattle, WA; entitled "Examining the global distribution of dominant archaeal populations in soil", S.T. Bates, D. Berg-Lyons, J.G. Caporaso, W.A. Walters, R. Knight and N. Fierer (August 2010).
• Annual Meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), Lexington, KY; entitled "Across-biome survey of soil fungal communities using barcoded pyrosequencing approach", S.T. Bates, K. McGuire and N. Fierer (June 2010).
• Conservation and Sustainable Management of Below-Ground Biodiversity, World Agro-forestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya; entitled "Continental-scale analysis of total soil biodiversity using molecular techniques", D. Wall, E. Ayres, U. Nielsen, R. Bardgett, J. Garey, T. Wu, S.T. Bates and N. Fierer (May 2010).
• Annual Meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), State College, PA; entitled "Fungi associated with biological soil crusts in the Western United States using culture-independent methods", S.T. Bates, T.H. Nash III and F. Garcia-Pichel (August 2008).
• Sixth Annual Meeting of the International Association for Lichenology (IAL), Asilomar, CA; entitled "Investigation of fungal populations and diversity associated with biological soil crusts (BSCs) in the Western U.S. using culture-independent methods", S.T. Bates, T.H. Nash III and F. Garcia-Pichel (July 2008).
• Fifth Annual Arizona Botanist Meeting, Phoenix, AZ; entitled "Fungal diversity in Arizona - What do we know? What can we expect?", S.T. Bates (February 2008).
• First Annual meeting - ASU researchers Biological Crust Day, Tempe, AZ; entitled "Fungi Associated with Biological Soil Crusts: Assessing Diversity by Culture-Independent Methods", S.T. Bates, T.H. Nash III and F. Garcia-Pichel (December 2007).
• Eighth Biennial Conference of Research on the Colorado Plateau, Flagstaff, AZ; entitled "Biological Soil Crusts and the Pursuit of Novel Fungal Diversity", S.T. Bates, T.H. Nash III and F. Garcia-Pichel (November 2005).

Poster Presentations:

• LTER Fungal/Microbial Genomics Meeting, Albuquerque, NM; entitled "Soil fungi: broad-scale ecological patterns and networks of co-occurrence with soil bacteria", S.T. Bates, C.L. Lauber, W.A. Walters, J.G. Caporaso, R. Knight and N. Fierer (May 2011).
• General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology 2011, New Orleans, LA; entitled "Are bdelloid rotifer communities structured by soil biogeochemistry and bacterial composition?", M.S. Robeson II, A.J. King, D.M. Welch, S.T. Bates, R.C. Lynch, J.L. Darcy and S.K. Schmidt (May 2011).
• Botany 2010, Providence, RI; entitled "Bacterial communities of lichens: structure and potential functions", S.T. Bates, G. Cropsey, J.G. Caporaso, W.A. Walters, R., R. Knight and N. Fierer (July, 2010)
• Annual meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), Asheville, NC; entitled "Arizona members of the Geastraceae and Lycoperdaceae (Basidiomycota, Fungi): monography, phylogeny and spore ultrastructure", S.T. Bates, R.W. Roberson and D.E. Desjardin (July 2004).
• Annual meeting of the Arizona Imaging and Microanalysis Society (AIMS), Tempe, AZ; entitled "Basidiospore ultrastructure in gastroid fungi: Assessing phylogenetically informative characters and creating utilitarian taxonomy", S.T. Bates, R.W. Roberson, M.F. Wojciechowski and D.E. Desjardin (April 2004).
• Annual meeting of the Mycological Society of America (MSA), Asilomar, CA; entitled "Arizona Puffballs and Earthstars (Lycoperdaceae and Geastraceae, Basidiomycota, Fungi)", S.T. Bates, R.W. Roberson and D.E. Desjardin (July 2003).
• Arizona Nevada Academy of Science meeting (ANAS), Flagstaff, AZ; entitled "Arizona Puffballs and Earthstars", S.T. Bates, R.W. Roberson and D.E. Desjardin (March 2003).

Public Talks and Invited Lectures:

• Colorado Mycological Society, Denver, CO; entitled "Exploring Microbes Associated with Lichens" (July 2011).
• Colorado Native Plant Society Lecture Series, Boulder, CO; entitled "Lichens: Diversity, Utility, and Their Inner World" (April 2011).
• University of Colorado, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate student "Brown Bag" lecture series, Boulder, CO; entitled "Trampled Underfoot: Interactions and Ecological Patterns for Terrestrial Bacteria and Fungi" (February 2011).
• North American Mycological Association 50th Anniversary Foray, Winter Park, CO; entitled "Exploring Fungal Diversity in the Western U.S.: Soil, Sequences, and Ecology" (August 2010).
• Colorado Mycological Society, Denver, CO; entitled "Gasteroid Fungi, Gasteromycetologists, and History" (June 2010).
• Division of Mathematical and Natural Sciences Seminar Series, ASU West Campus, Phoenix, AZ; entitled "Fungal Communities Associated with Biological Soil Crusts in the Western United States: A Culture-independent Approach" (April 2009).
• Arizona Native Plant Society, Phoenix, AZ; entitled, "Arizona Fungi: What Do They Look Like and Why Do They Matter?" (April 2006).
• ASU School of Life Sciences graduate student "Brown Bag" lecture series, Tempe, AZ; entitled, "Dark Secrets: Fungi Associated with Biological Soil Crusts" (March 2006).
• Sonoma County Mycological Society, Santa Rosa, CA; entitled, "Southwestern puffballs and earthstars: monography, phylogeny and spore ultrastructure in the Lycoperdaceae and Geastraceae" (September 2004).
• USDA Systematic Botany and Mycology Laboritory, Beltsville, MD; entitled, "Arizona members of the Geastraceae and Lycoperdaceae (Basidiomycota, Fungi)" (February 2004).
• San Diego Mycological Society, San Diego, CA; entitled, "Puffballs and Earthstars: Arizona, Gasteromycetes and History" (January 2004).
• ASU Conservation Club, Tempe, AZ; entitled, "Baselines, Biodiversity and Conservation: Arizona Puffballs and Earthstars" (October 2003).
• The Flagstaff Arboretum, Flagstaff, AZ; entitled, "The Mushrooms of Northern Arizona" (August 2003).

Field:

• Extensive field work in Arizona and Colorado collecting lichens and macrofungi (2004 - current).
• Macrofungi of Galapagos Island, Santa Cruz, Ecuador (October 2006).
• Biota survey of Lone Mountain, Parashant-Grand Canyon National Monument, AZ (May 2005).
• Survey of lichens for the Parashant-Grand Canyon National Monument, AZ (May 2003).

Professional Affiliations:

• American Bryological and Lichenological Society
• American Society for Microbiology
• North American Mycological Association
• Mycological Society of America
• Sigma Xi

Language:

• Proficient in Spanish