Dr. Romero-Olivares is a soil microbiologist who works at the intersection of ecosystem ecology and evolution with an emphasis on fungi. She is interested in understanding how fungi respond and adapt to environmental stress. Her overall research goal is to better understand and plan for ecosystem-scale effects of global climate change. Dr. Romero-Olivares is originally from Mexico and received her Ph.D. from the University of California Irvine in the USA where she investigated the effects of global warming on the soil fungal communities of boreal forests in Alaska. She did a postdoc at the University of New Hampshire in the USA where she was a Diversity & Innovation Scholar studying fungal traits and emission of volatile organic compounds in soils experiencing long-term simulated warming and nitrogen pollution at Harvard Forest. Dr. Romero-Olivares is now an Assistant Professor at New Mexico State University in the USA in the Department of Biology. Her lab explores fungi in natural ecosystems, their traits, and how they respond and adapt to global climate change. Dr. Romero-Olivares is passionate about feminism, intersectionality, social justice, and equity in general, and more specifically in STEM.