Krissa Skogen is a fifth year doctoral student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Connecticut studying the dramatic decline of a native plant from New England. Her research has two main goals: to investigate the role of human-caused increases in nitrogen pollution in population declines and to determine how genetic diversity, reproductive biology and demography affect the chances that this plant species will persist without human intervention. Using scientific data and methodologies, Krissa hopes to help guide management efforts to prevent species extinctions on the local, national and global levels. Krissa was Conservation Science intern at the Chicago Botanic Garden and worked in the Terrestrial Ecology department at Argonne National Laboratory. More recently, she has worked with local landowners, New England Wildflower Society volunteers, and Natural Heritage and power company officials in New England to coordinate research and awareness of rare and declining plant species.