Sam Stutz is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois. Her research focuses on enzymes in plants, how they prefer different stable isotopes of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, and how those preferences change under differing conditions. For the RIPE project, Sam will be setting up a tunable diode laser to measure differences in photosynthesis using stable isotopes of Carbon (12C and 13C). She earned her bachelor’s degree in botany from the University of Wyoming, her master’s degree from Washington State University, and went on to complete her doctorate in biology at the University of New Mexico. Her work is published in Journal of Experimental Botany and New Phytologist.