Pacesetter Award for eDNA sleuth Caren Goldberg

Goldberg stands near a brown wetland.
Sampling an Idaho pond, Pacesetter Award winner and WSU scientist Caren Goldberg leads a million-dollar effort to study rare amphibians using their environmental DNA traces (Robert Hubner-WSU Photo).

Caren Goldberg, associate professor in the School of the Environment, received the Pacesetter Award during Washington State University’s 2020 Research Week, recognizing her groundbreaking research in conservation genetics to help maintain threatened species.

Goldberg studies environmental DNA and spatial ecology, helping agencies and communities manage wild species amid unprecedented ecosystem change.

Funded by more than $1.4 million from the U.S. Department of Defense, she is currently working to improve detection and population estimates of threatened wild amphibians. Environmental DNA could help reveal the status and size of populations of rare amphibians, through the traces of individuals in the population.

The Pacesetter Award recognizes excellence in research achievement, leadership, and generation of research funding, publications and citations

Goldberg was recognized among other award winners at WSU’s virtual Research Week Awards Ceremony, Oct. 15, 2020.

Learn more about Goldberg’s research at the Goldberg Lab homepage.