Riley Leff
PHD Candidate
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolRiley Leff is a PhD candidate in biology and forest ecologist based in Washington, D.C., with eight years of cross-disciplinary experience spanning fieldwork, lab-based molecular methods, and computational modeling. Their research focuses on integrating plant physiology into whole-plant and ecosystem models, informed by empirical data collected in lab and field campaigns and by methodological development. Riley has applied tools from biotechnology and statistics to study tree mortality and plant–pathogen interactions, and has experience scaling experiments from CRISPR work to ecosystem-level projects at institutions including GWU, PNNL, and UChicago. A recognized educator and award-winning teaching assistant, they pair strong communication skills with hands-on lab management and data-focused problem solving. Notably, Riley bridges experimental and modeling approaches—deriving new methods that make physiological measurements directly useful for predictive ecological models.
8 years of coding experience
2 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Biological Sciences, 2nd Year, Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Biological Sciences, 2nd Year at University of Chicago
Github Skills (25)
hal10
async9
executor9
python-data9
rust9
embedded9
maps8
python8
deck-gl8
gis8
javascript8
leaflet8
openstreetmap7
data-visualization7
obsidian6
Programming languages (4)
Github contributions (5)
RileyLeff/ezSperry-beta
Mar 2020 - Oct 2021
Contributions:38 commits, 57 pushes, 8 branches in 1 year 7 months
RileyLeff/floco
Jan 2024 - Sep 2024
Contributions:3 releases, 2 PRs, 10 pushes in 7 months
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