Lauren Esposito

Dr Lauren Esposito is the Assistant Curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences. She is also the co-founder/director of a science, education, and conservation non-profit called Islands & Seas. Her current research investigates the patterns and processes of evolution in spiders, scorpions, and their venoms. Previously, as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow through the University of California at Berkeley Lauren travelled extensively in the Caribbean studying the biogeography of arachnids. She has an MS and PhD from the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration with City University of New York. A passionate educator, Lauren has organized education programmes for local communities throughout the Americas focussing on the importance of conserving biodiversity. She is currently involved in field-based education programmes for undergraduates.