Collaborative
The team
Meet our team of passionate researchers, practitioners, professionals, and students
Rebecca Wilcox
Research Scientist
Rebecca Wilcox is a community ecologist. Her research explores how individuals, populations and communities respond to global environmental change. In her work she leverages diverse datasets (climate data, archeological data, museum specimens/artifacts) and utilizes advanced quantitative methods to address contemporary issues in ecology and conservation. Rebecca is currently a research scientist at the California Academy of Sciences.
Shannon Tushingham
Associate Curator of Anthropology
Shannon Tushingham is an anthropological archaeologist. Her research explores how humans interact with their environments, with a focus on hunting, gathering, and fishing societies and collaborative research with Native communities in western North America. With a broad background in Tribal, museum, and academic archaeology, she is currently the Irvine Chair of Anthropology and Associate Curator at CAS, where she is spearheading the development of a Braided Science Institute at the Academy.
Sarah J. Jacobs
Assistant Curator of Botany
Sarah Jacobs is an evolutionary biologist and plant systematist. Her research lab explores the evolution of species, primarily using the plant genus Castilleja (aka, 'the paintbrushes'). She has over 15 years of experience and expertise in collections-based research using plant specimens. As curator of the CAS herbarium, she works to make available and relevant the vast wealth of data held within the cabinets of the collection.
Research Core
Collaborators
Chairman Ron Goode
The Honorable Ron W. Goode, Tribal Chairman of the North Fork Mono Tribe since 1983, is a distinguished anthropological archaeologist and retired Community College Professor in Ethnic Studies. A highly recognized leader, he holds an Honorary Doctorate from California State University, Fresno, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Cultural Preservation from the Society of California Archaeology. Dr. Goode publishes widely on topics including ethnobotany and cultural fire and served as Coordinating Lead Author for the Tribal Indigenous Communities Climate Change Assessment. He brings decades of experience in cultural preservation, archaeology, cultural burns, and meadow restoration to the collaborative, where he is a key partner on the Harvest Windows Project.
Shelly Davis-King
Shelly Davis-King has more than 55 years of global experience as a professional anthropologist, largely centering California and western Great Basin ethnography, ethnobiology, archaeology, and history. Her research brings Native American perspectives to the preservation of their ecological, biological, and medicinal history. She has received multiple honors for her dedication to the cultural resource management industry, including the David A. Fredrickson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for California Archaeology (SCA). In addition to being a collaborator on the Harvest Windows Project, her work at the Academy helps to bring Indigenous voices to the institution’s outreach, integrate Native American science with research endeavors, and respectfully transfer ethnographic and historical materials to the Academy’s collections.
Christina Oraftik
Christina is a long-time collaborator supporting the North Fork Mono Tribe (NFMT) on their work bringing Native-led traditional stewardship practices back to the land and building partnerships with other Tribes in California and beyond. She supports the planning and implementation of their cultural burning projects as well as biological monitoring for meadow restoration. Christina also supports the NFMT's collaborations with research institutions, as well as discussions with government agencies on the policy barriers that the NFMT faces. In partnerships with other Tribes, Christina helps coordinate cultural burning workshops and provides technical assistance to support Tribes in implementing their traditional stewardship practices.
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Gregg Castro
[T'rowt'raahl Salinan/Rumsien-Ramaytush Ohlone] has been involved in preservation of his cultural heritage for over three decades, including his late Mother’s Rumsien Ohlone heritage, and served two terms as Tribal Chair for the since ended ‘Salinan Nation Tribal Council’ (currently non-profit organization Salinan T’rowt’raahl) on his late Father’s side. As a member of the Society for California Archaeology (SCA), Castro serves on SCA’s Native American Programs Committee (NAPC) as Chairperson, and co-facilitates the annual California Indian Conference, a 30+ year gathering of academia and culture bearers about California Indigenous heritage. He is now the Culture Director of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, where he is on the Advisory Board of the San Francisco American Indian Cultural District. Castro is a writer and activist within the California Indigenous community, raising awareness on issues regarding cultural preservation, protection, education and traditional practices. He is also a research associate at Cal Academy and a key collaborator on the tule project.
Molly Michelson
Molly is a Senior Media Producer and has over two decades of production experience. In her work, she has writes, produces, and directs short videos and articles on environmental topics and scientific research.
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She has produced films on Braided Science (Two-Eyed Seeing: Science and Traditional Ecological Knowledge) and Cultural Fire (Rejuvenating the Land Through Fire) featuring Chairman Goode.
Early Career and Student Researchers
Mindy Schneider
Mindy is a third-year student at Union College pursuing a B.S. in Environmental Science and Anthropology. Her academic interests include conservation, restoration ecology, botany, and wetland ecology. She is especially interested in the relationship between ecosystems and human societies. ​​
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She is a current Summer Systematics Intern at Cal Academy and her project focuses on Schoenoplectus acutus and Schoenoplectus californicus. I am studying their distribution, phenology, and habitat characteristics to better understand these foundational wetland species and support future restoration efforts. The project also aims to educate the public about the ecological importance of tule and its cultural significance to the Ramaytush Ohlone. By highlighting both ecological and cultural perspectives, the project emphasizes the importance of protecting this keystone species for future generations.
Jude West
Jude is a fourth-year student at Willamette University pursuing majors in Environmental Science and Politics, Policy, Law, & Ethics. Their research interests include traditional botanical knowledge, mycology, and plant-insect relationships.
They are currently a Ca Academy Summer Systematics Intern studying the phenology and harvest windows of Nicotiana attenuata (Coyote tobacco) and Corylus cornuta (Beaked hazelnut) as they apply to the needs of local Indigenous peoples and ecological communities. As a descendant of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, they are very interested in how multiple knowledge systems can come together in order to create substantial environmental policy solutions centered around native communities.
Lucy Katzman-Tranah
Lucy is a recent graduate form the University of Washington. She joined the team in 2025 as an research intern on the Archaeobotanical project and will start as a Research Assistant in the Anthropology department in Fall 2026.