Erika Díaz-Almeyda is an Assistant Professor of Biology at California State University, San Marcos, where she leads her microbial ecology lab investigating relationships between microbes and their hosts, with a focus on restoration and agricultural applications. Her pedagogy actively integrates innovative teaching strategies and emphasizes working with undergraduate students as research collaborators. Her current research explores how agroecological systems impact soil microbial diversity and function. She emphasizes traditional ecological practices, integrating local stakeholder perspectives and collaborating with local communities to determine research priorities and support decision-making. She completed her Ph.D. in Biology at The Pennsylvania State University and was an NIH-FIRST fellow at Emory University. She is currently a Sci Comm Identities Project fellow (Metcalf Institute), where she focuses on the intersection of climate change and food-related issues, including food insecurity, and agriculture. She is also a Faculty Innovation Fellow at CSUSM (2024–2025), where she is developing the Milpa HUB—a research garden where she grows milpa and conducts experiments, sharing methods and celebrations related to milpa cultivation. The goal is to expand community access to this ancestral technology while connecting individuals already engaged in milpa-related work, including seed farmers and chefs.
