Susan Letcher

Susan G. Letcher (1979-) is a tropical ecologist and professor of plant biology. She grew up on an island off the coast of Maine, in a house with wood heat and cold running water. After earning her B.A. at Carleton College in 2000, she hiked the Appalachian Trail twice (from Maine to Georgia and back again) with her older sister, Lucy. She completed a Ph.D. in 2008 at the University of Connecticut, studying how tropical forests recover from disturbance, and she has taught at the college level ever since: first in a study-abroad program in Costa Rica, and then in New York and Maine.