Lorena earned her PhD in Botany and Plant Sciences from the University of California Riverside, her MSc in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants from the University of Edinburgh, and her BSc in Biology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She has done research on the taxonomy, biogeography, population genetics, and ecology of the iconic palms of the genus Washingtonia. Before joining IAN, Lorena was a AAAS Mass Media fellow and academic editor for Botany One, a digital publication about plant research. She was also a volunteer for the U.S. Botanical Garden running discovery carts and a freelance science writer for outlets in the U.S. and Mexico and She lives in Washington D.C. and enjoys discovering running trails around Rock Creek Park.