Mary had the great fortune of relocating to the Lake Tahoe area with her husband in November 2008. Her current projects include writing a book on 21st century environmental ethics, participating in the development of climate change adaptation policy for biodiversity, and exploring teaching and conservation opportunities in the Tahoe region.

Mary's doctoral training in Ecology at the University of California, Davis focused on population and community ecology, with research projects on population persistence in variable environments, desert community ecology, and mammalogy. Her undergraduate studies in Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkeley combined rigorous basic science training with broad interdisciplinary knowledge, the perfect combination for thoroughly understanding complex environmental problems. Mary has applied her ecology knowledge to postdoctoral professional work in special-status mammal conservation and wildlife corridor analysis. She has also taught upper division courses in Wildlife Ecology and Environmental Science and Engineering as a lecturer at the University of California, Davis.

Mary's ventures into the environmental policy realm include an appointment as an Environmental Fellow in the AAAS Science and Technology Policy Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Washington D.C., and research on low carbon energy policies at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She also has professional experience with CEQA, NEPA, and Endangered Species Act applications. She has authored many peer-reviewed articles, and is a reviewer for the journals Conservation Biology, Ecology Letters, Ecology, and Journal of Mammalogy.