Megan Gaitan is a first-generation college graduate from Stockton, California. Megan’s passion for ecology and the environment formed during her undergraduate studies at Sonoma State University (SSU) where she participated in research assessing impacts of mammalian herbivores on plant communities at Point Reyes National Seashore. After graduating, Megan worked on a forest census in Costa Rica where she also collected data on the photosynthetic responses of trees to changes in temperature. She fell in love with this work and returned to SSU to pursue her MS in Biology where her thesis focused on understanding long-term shifts in tree community composition.

As a professional, Megan has worked as a Project Manager for Proyecto ALTA in the Área de Conservación Guanacaste, Costa Rica, and as a Research Specialist for the Central Arizona-Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research program at Arizona State University (ASU). While working at ASU, she earned a GIS certificate to complement her background in ecology. Now, as a GIS Specialist with the U.S. Forest Service and MANO Project, Megan plans to use her GIS skills to contribute to the management and conservation of forest ecosystems. In her spare time, Megan enjoys playing sports, listening to music, traveling, and spending time with friends.