Lila Iris Rodriguez-Aceves is an undergraduate student studying Environmental Science and Engineering on the Chemistry track and plans on double-majoring in History with a concentration in Pre-Colonial Latin America. Her father is originally from Morelos, Mexico, and her mother’s family is from Michoacan and Chihuahua. She is a Nawa scientist. Lila is passionate about the interconnection of Nawa traditional ecological knowledge and western soil engineering to build community-based solutions to global problems. Her work in the lab focuses on understanding spatial microbial dynamics during wetting-drying cycles in different artificial and natural soils. 

Outside of the lab and her research, Lila loves sewing, embroidery and crocheting. In her free time, she enjoys thrift shopping, going to concerts, and hiking. Lila is passionate about community organizing and advocating for LANDBACK, Indigenous people’s rights, land-based learning, culturally competent science, and education.