Kristina A. Schierenbeck is a Professor of Botany at California State University, Chico and a passionate advocate for conservation. She teaches courses in evolution, plant diversity, plant geography, and systematics. Her research is focused on plant evolution, especially hybridization, invasive species, and rare taxa. She has published over 50 articles and a book related to the evolution of plants and other organisms. Kristina spent two and half years as a undergraduate at Chico State in the 1970s where she fell in love with botany; 20 years later in 1998, she returned to Chico with her husband Jim and their two daughters. She is an avid native plant and vegetable gardener on the quarter acre urban property she shares with her husband.