Becky Bixby is a Research Professor at the University of New Mexico (USA). As a freshwater diatomist, broad questions that interest Becky include: 1) What species are found on this planet?, 2) Why are species found where they are? and 3) How do species respond to environmental and biological stressors? These questions have driven her research program that utilizes diatoms as model organisms to ask broader questions about microbial biogeography and species responses to stressors, particularly in arid land ecosystems.