Generate a tailored SOP for Dr. Victoria Sork. Improve your application with a focused, well-structured draft.
Victoria Sork is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, where she also serves as the Director of the UCLA Mathias Botanical Garden Herbarium. Her research program investigates the evolutionary dynamics of tree populations, focusing on how local environments, gene flow, and natural selection interact to shape demographic histories. Sork has a particular interest in oaks (Quercus), using them as a model system to explore the molecular basis of local adaptation. Her lab employs advanced genomic tools to study adaptive genetic variation and to understand the genetic diversity connected to ecological phenomena such as climate change. Selected projects include landscape ecological genomics of trees, phylogeography of species in response to climatic changes, and the effects of hybridization and introgression on genetic variation. Sork is committed to applying her findings to conservation science, developing management strategies to preserve tree species diversity amidst rapid environmental shifts. She has published extensively in notable journals, addressing fundamental questions in evolutionary ecology and providing insights that inform conservation policies.
University of California, Los Angeles • Los Angeles, CA
Teaching and research in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, overseeing the Mathias Botanical Garden Herbarium.
Department of Economics admits primarily for the PhD program.