Dr. Tessa Hill is the Associate Vice Provost for Academic Programs in Public Scholarship & Engagement at UC Davis. She is also a Professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences and Bodega Marine Laboratory. She previously held positions as Associate Director of Academic Programs and Associate Director of Public Engagement for the UC Davis Coastal & Marine Sciences Institute.

Tessa graduated with a B.S. in Marine Science from Eckerd College (1999) and a Ph.D. in Marine Science from UC Santa Barbara (2004). She was then a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Davis, prior to starting a faculty position. Research interests include climate change, both past and present, and understanding the response of marine species to environmental perturbation. Tessa leads an industry-academic partnership to understand the consequences of ocean acidification on shellfish farmers on the Northern California coast. Tessa’s work has been featured in a variety of media outlets (e.g., NPR, The New York Times, Al Jazeera America, Science Friday).  Tessa currently serves as a Trustee for the California Academy of Sciences, and as a Trustee for Society for Science. Tessa is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.