Email: pakes@berkeley.edu

Phone: (510) 643-5448

Her research: "My research focuses on the ecology of Mexico's anchialine caves – underwater caves in which a layer of salty marine water rests under a layer of fresh or brackish water. My study sites are located in the Yucatan Peninsula, near Cancun. I access these caves and the cave animals within them by SCUBA diving into cenotes, which are sinkholes made by the partial collapse of cave ceilings. Once inside, I observe and collect data on the geochemistry of the cave and study the interactions between animals and microbes, in both water layers and in the sediment. I am particularly interested in remipedes, which are blind, white crustaceans specific to anchialine habitats, and were just recently discovered."

Why she loves biology: "Although I have not always known I wanted to be a scientist, I have always enjoyed exploring nature and the underwater world in particular. It was this interest that led me away from French and literature during my sophomore year of college and into the study of coral reef ecology. To my delight and others' jealousy, coral reef studies required me to travel to Bermuda, the Caribbean and Australia, and to spend time SCUBA diving on tropical reefs. Even better, it allowed me to investigate questions that had not yet been answered and to put my curiosity about nature to work. Although I have moved to an enclosed underwater environment during my graduate studies, the same benefits of travel, SCUBA diving, and exciting intellectual exploration apply. At the moment, my passion lies in cenote research and I cannot imagine a better field in which to immerse myself. I am still, however, curious about coral reefs, the deep sea, the Antarctic, and a plethora of other habitats, so who knows where I will dive and explore next... Then again, the nascency of cave ecological research leaves me and scores of other researchers with enough questions to last a lifetime."