Rachel E. Gallery

Dr. Rachel Gallery is the Thomas Lovejoy Endowed Chair and Professor of Microbial Ecology at the University of Arizona’s School of Natural Resources and the Environment. As the Founding Director of the Lovejoy Center, she is launching the Tom Lovejoy Conservation Fellows program to bridge biodiversity science with policy and catalyze actionable conservation solutions. Her research group investigates the ecological mechanisms that maintain species diversity and the critical role of soil microbes in ecosystem health. 

A contributing author to The Nature Record, the first holistic assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife, Dr. Gallery is a Fulbright Scholar, a member of the New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine National Academies (2024 cohort), and fellow of the American Association of University Women. 

She earned a Ph.D. in Plant Biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in Biology from American University with appointments as a Postdoctoral Associate and Research Fellow at University of Oxford and Staff Scientist at the National Ecological Observatory Network.