Meet Postdoc Kelly Heilman

Postdoc Kelly Heilman sees the forest for the trees, both in her life and in her work. Heilman’s work assesses how trees in forests respond to climate change, rising carbon dioxide levels and the changing ways land is used.

Kelly first became interested in environmental research as an undergrad at Kenyon College. She worked on an eye-opening project that revealed how the warming of water would affect the survival of fish.

Now, her research takes her to forests across the western part of the country where she works with the U.S. Forest Service to forecast forest responses using data from tree rings. Even when not gathering data, Kelly still finds herself in the outdoors either biking or running her favorite Tucson mountain trails.