Professor Sork is an accomplished leader, a renowned evolutionary and conservation biologist, a passionate teacher, a dedicated mentor, and a respected administrator. She maintains an active research program studying evolutionary and ecological processes in tree populations with a particular commitment to discovering how long-lived trees will survive rapid climate warming. Author of ~140 publications, her research spans conservation genomics, evolutionary biology, and plant ecology. She is an elected fellow of the American Association for Advancement of Sciences and the California Academy of Sciences. Professor Sork received her BS from University of California Irvine and a PhD from the University of Michigan. She has been a professor at UCLA since 2001 where she served as department chair for five years and Dean of Life Sciences for 11 years. Professor Sork is now the Director of the UCLA Missouri Botanical Garden and Herbarium. Throughout her career, she has been an advocate for inclusive excellence in education and research, student success, and faculty diversity.