Bailey McNichol is a PhD Candidate in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She received her B.S. in Natural Resources and B.A. in Spanish from the University of Connecticut in 2015, and her M.S. in Forest Resources from the University of Georgia in 2018. The overarching goals of her research are to understand the underlying fundamental processes driving forest responses to stressors exacerbated by climate change and to characterize the properties that make forests resistant and resilient to these stressors across scales. Her current research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln is focused on assessing the distributions and diversity of woody species along topographic gradients in Nebraska's semi-arid forests, using forest inventory data and physiological measurements to evaluate tree performance in a changing climate. Previously, she has worked on understanding the effects of biotic and abiotic stressors on bark beetle outbreaks, and on evaluating the role of fine plant root networks in reducing soil erodibility.