Ciera C. Martinez, PhD

Appointments

Senior Program Manager April 2023 – present · Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center for Data Science and Environment · UC Berkeley

Research Lead, Biodiversity and Environmental Data Science July 2020 – March 2023 · Berkeley Institute for Data Science (BIDS) · UC Berkeley

BIDS Postdoctoral Fellow March 2018 – June 2020 · Berkeley Institute for Data Science · UC Berkeley

NSF Postdoctoral Fellow March 2016 – February 2018 · Molecular and Cell Biology · UC Berkeley

Education

PhD, Plant Biology — March 2016 Emphasis in Molecular Biology and Genomics · UC Davis

BS, Biology — May 2008 Chemistry Minor · Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago

Publications

21. AI and Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Responsible Use for Biodiversity Monitoring. Steen M, Hutchins L, de Bruyn M, Van Scoyoc A, Synder A, Montealegre-Mora F, Tripp E, Sarna-Wojcicki D, Chapman M, Jennings L, Martinez CC. In review.

20. Kigali Sim: Open source simulation toolkit for modeling substances and policies related to the Montreal Protocol. Pottinger AS, Natarajan B, de Bruyn M, Martinez CC. 2026. Journal of Open Source Software

19. Indigenous knowledge and community-derived counts produce robust wildlife population estimates: Roosevelt Elk in Karuk Aboriginal Territory. Connor T, Montealegre-Mora F, Saxon BJ, Camarena J, et al. including Martinez C. 2025. Ecology and Evolution

18. Pathways to reduce global plastic waste mismanagement and greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Pottinger AS, Geyer R, Biyani N, Martinez CC, Nathan N, Morse MR, Liu C, et al. 2024. Science

17. The importance of habitat type and historical fire regimes in arthropod community response following large-scale wildfires. Holmquist A, Markelz R, Martinez C, Gillespie R. 2024. Global Change Biology

16. Ten simple rules on writing clean and reliable open-source scientific software. Hunter-Zinck H, de Siqueira A, Vásquez V, Barnes R, Martinez C. 2021. PLOS Computational Biology

15. Principles for data analysis workflows. Stoudt S*, Valeri V*, Martinez C. 2021. PLOS Computational Biology · Preprint: arXiv

14. Spatial transcriptional signatures define margin morphogenesis along the proximal-distal and medio-lateral axes in Solanum lycopersicum. Martinez C, Li S, Woodhouse M, Sugimoto K, Sinha N. 2021. Plant Cell · Preprint: BioRxiv

13. Whole genome sequences of 23 species from the Drosophila montium species group. Bronski M, Martinez C, Weld H, Eisen M. 2020. G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics · Preprint: BioRxiv

12. A fungal pathogen that robustly manipulates the behavior of Drosophila melanogaster. Elya C, Lok T, Spencer Q, McCausland H, Martinez C, Eisen M. 2018. eLIFE

11. Morphological plant modeling: Unleashing geometric and topologic potential within the plant sciences. Bucksch A, 37 authors including Martinez C. 2017. Frontiers in Plant Science

10. Left-right leaf asymmetry in decussate and distichous phyllotactic systems. Martinez C*, Chitwood D*, Smith R, Sinha N. 2016. Proceedings of the Royal Society B

9. A Sister of PIN1 gene in tomato defines organ initiation patterns by maintaining epidermal auxin flux. Martinez C, Koenig D, Chitwood D, Sinha N. 2016. Developmental Biology

8. Light-induced indeterminacy alters shade avoiding tomato leaf morphology. Chitwood D, Kumar R, Ranjan A, et al. including Martinez C. 2015. Plant Physiology

7. Resolving distinct genetic regulators of leaf shape within a heteroblastic and ontogenetic context. Chitwood D, Ranjan A, Kumar R, et al. including Martinez C. 2014. Plant Cell

6. A modern ampelography: a genetic basis for leaf shape and venation patterning in Vitis vinifera. Chitwood D, Ranjan A, Martinez C, et al. 2013. Plant Physiology

5. Genetic Control of Leaf Shape. Martinez C and Sinha N. 2013. Encyclopedia of Life Science

4. trifoliate encodes an R2R3 MYB transcription factor that modulates leaf and shoot architecture in tomato. Ahmad Naz A, Raman S, Martinez C, et al. 2013. PNAS

3. Leaf asymmetry as a developmental constraint imposed by auxin-dependent phyllotactic patterning. Chitwood D, Headland L, Ranjan A, Martinez C, et al. 2012. Plant Cell

2. Gradual disintegration of the floral symmetry gene network is implicated in the evolution of a wind-pollination syndrome. Preston J, Martinez C, Hileman L. 2011. PNAS

1. The Populus class III HD ZIP transcription factor POPCORONA affects cell differentiation during secondary growth of woody stems. Du J, Miura E, Robischon M, Martinez C, Groover A. 2011. PLoS ONE

Conference Proceedings

Removing barriers to science-informed decision-making through data science and human-centered design. Layritz LS, Zomer M, le Bruyn M, Pottinger S, Gondek N, Steen MK, et al. including Martinez C. 2026. EGU General Assembly

GeoJupyter and JupyterGIS: Exploring more approachable geospatial data workflows as an open source software community. Fisher M, Perez F, Renou M, Verma A, Brichet N, Ismail MB, Brochart D, et al. including Martinez C. 2025. AGU Annual Meeting

GeoJupyter: Streamlining the lifecycle of geospatial research with the Jupyter ecosystem. Perez F, Fisher M, Martinez C, Renou M, Corlay S, Verma A, Ismail MB, et al. 2025. AGU Annual Meeting

Preprints

Disentangling blade and vasculature shape in grapevine leaves. Yahiaoui W, Smail S, Ayub Y, Lu Q, Cousins P, Diaz-Garcia L, Frank M, et al. including Martinez C. 2026. bioRxiv

Using game design to inform a plastics treaty: Fostering collaboration between science, machine learning, and policymaking. Pottinger AS, Biyani N, Geyer R, McCauley DJ, de Bruyn M, Morse MR, Nathan N, Koy K, Martinez C. 2023. arXiv

Challenges of doing data-intensive research in teams, labs, and groups. Gieger S, and ten other authors including Martinez C. SocArXiv

Research Experience

UC Berkeley · March 2016 – July 2020 · Advisor: Michael Eisen
UC Davis · January 2010 – March 2016 · Advisor: Neelima Sinha
RIKEN, Yokohama, Japan · December 2014 – April 2015 · Advisor: Keiko Sugimoto
University of Kansas · August 2008 – August 2009 · Advisors: Lena Hileman & Jill Preston
Chicago Field Museum of Natural History · September 2007 – August 2008 · Advisor: Rick Ree
University of Colorado, Boulder · April – August 2007 · Advisor: Pamela Diggle
Northeastern Illinois University · September 2006 – May 2008 · Advisor: Joel Olfelt

Grants, Fellowships & Awards

Presentations

2025 National Workshop on Data Science Education Panel
Talk (invited): GeoJupyter: An Accessible Open Source Geospatial Ecosystem

2023 Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
Talk (invited): Uncovering Patterns in Nature with Data Science Tools

2023 Academic Data Science Alliance (Virtual)
Talk / Panel (invited): Informal Training Opportunities in Data Science

2022 Women in Data Science (WiDS) Berkeley, Virtual
Talk (invited): Designing Our World with Data

2021 Data Science Coast to Coast
Talk (invited): Open science in the wild: a guide to train researchers to build reproducible and collaborative workflows

2020 Open Science Symposium, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Talk (invited): Alternative Research Products within the life cycle of data analysis workflows

2020 Academic Data Science Alliance Annual Conference
Talk (selected abstract): Principles for data-intensive research workflows: Guidance for the classroom and the computational laboratory

2020 University of Wyoming, INBRE 2020 Summer of Code
Talk (invited): Bird’s Eye View of Reproducibility

2019 Invasive Species CSI, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Talk (plenary): Defining the Usability of Biodiversity Databases — Lessons Learned from Tutorial Creation

2019 Yale, Digital Data Conference, New Haven, CT
Talk (selected abstract): Designing a Synergistic Relationship Between Undergraduate Data Science Education and Usability of Biodiversity Databases

2019 rOpenSci Community Call, Online
Talk (invited): Research Applications of rOpenSci Taxonomy and Biodiversity Tools

2019 Lewis & Clark College, Portland, OR
Talk (invited): Unleashing the Power of Biodiversity Data with Data Science

2019 OpenCon, Portland, OR
Talk: Empowering Computer Scientists to Build Tools and Tutorials for Biodiversity Data

2018 MSDSE Summit, Park City, Utah
Talk: Reproducibility and Management of Data Science Teams

2018 UC Berkeley Statistics and Genomics Seminar Series
Talk (invited): Data Science and the Evolution of Plant and Animal Morphology

2018 University of San Francisco Biology Seminar Series, San Francisco, CA
Talk (invited): What data science can tell us about organism shape and evolution

2017 University of Kansas EEB Seminar, Lawrence, KS
Talk (invited): Evo-Devo in the data science age

2017 Berkeley Institute for Data Science, Berkeley, CA
Talk: How do organisms get their shape?

2017 Enterprise Applications of the R Language (EARL), San Francisco, CA
Talk (Keynote): R-Ladies: a world-wide organization to promote gender diversity in the R community

2017 58th Annual Drosophila Research Conference, San Diego, CA
Poster: Using comparative genomic approaches to reveal underlying constraints on enhancer sequence divergence

2016 Berkeley Molecular and Cell Biology Colloquium, Asilomar, CA
Poster: Using comparative genomic approaches to reveal underlying constraints on enhancer sequence divergence

2016 Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous, University of California, Davis
Talk (invited): The hidden beauty of plant architecture

2015 Nagoya University · RIKEN-Kobe · NAIST Institute, Nara
Three Talks: Using laser capture micro-dissection and characterization of a Solanum lycopersicum pin1 mutant to understand developmental and cellular differentiation patterns in plants

2015 International Plant Meeting in Kyoto, Kyoto Sangyo University
Talk (invited): Investigating the molecular mechanisms regulating leaf initiation, morphogenesis, and cellular differentiation in Solanum lycopersicum

2014 American Society of Plant Biology, Portland, OR
Poster: Global Gene Expression Map of a Complex Leaf

2014 Stanford Carnegie Institution for Science, Palo Alto, CA
Talk (invited): Getting started on making your computational work reproducible

2013 FASEB Mechanisms in Plant Development, Saxtons River, VT
Talk (selected abstract): Understanding the phylogenetic history and function of members of the PIN-FORMED1 clade using Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)

2013 American Society of Plant Biology, Providence, RI
Poster: Understanding the phylogenetic history and function of members of the PIN-FORMED1 clade using Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)

2012 Plant Biology Graduate Group Fall Colloquium, Davis, CA
Talk: Developing a Global Expression Map of a Developing Leaf

2012 American Society of Plant Biology, Austin, TX
Poster: Exploring the Forgotten Axis of Leaf Development

2011 NAIST Global COE International Symposium, Nara, Japan
Talk: Exploring the Forgotten Axis of Leaf Development

2011 UC Davis Plant Cell Seminar Series, Asilomar, CA
Talk: Auxin’s Influence on the trifoliate Mutant Leaf Phenotype

2008 UC Riverside 25th Symposium in Plant Biology, CA
Poster: Duplication and Divergence of Veronicaceae Floral Symmetry Genes — Implications for the Reduction/Loss of Floral Zygomorphy and Stamen Number

2008 NEIU Research Symposium, Chicago, IL
Talk: Using Chloroplast Genome Regions to Assess Phylogenetic Relationships of Corydalis

2007 REU Research Symposium, Boulder, CO
Talk: Fw2.2 Effect on Floral and Fruit Development in Tomato Plants

2007 NEIU Research Symposium, Chicago, IL
Poster: Effects of Gibberellic Acid, Light, and Cold Stratification on Echinacea pallida and Aquilegia canadensis Germination Rates

Facilitation, Organizing & Service

2025 GeoJupyter Hackathon — Lead Organizer
2024 SEEKCommons Network Convening — Organizer
2023 ImageXD 2023 — Lead Organizer
2021–present Data Science by Design (DSxD) — Co-founder, Leadership Team
2018–2022 TextXD Annual Conference — Organizing Committee
2019–2021 ADSA CDN Executive Committee
2017–2021 BIDS Best Practices Working Group — Lead
2017–2018 R-Ladies San Francisco — Leadership Team, Organizer

Teaching

2021 Reproducibility for Collaborative Science, BITSS · UC Berkeley
2020 INBRE 2020 Summer of Code, University of Wyoming
2018 Plant Development, Instructor · Mills College, CA
2017 Evolutionary Development Lab, Instructor · SF Institute of Art, CA
2017 Git and GitHub Tutorial, Instructor · Berkeley, CA
2016 SOM Clustering Tutorial, Instructor · Davis, CA
2015 Reproducible Research Bootcamp, Instructor · Gainesville, FL
2014 BIS 180L Genomics, Teaching Assistant · UC Davis
2014 Introduction to R, Instructor · Woodland Pioneer High School

Media, Interviews & Public Writing

2024 Global Plastics AI Policy Tool — UN Treaty Coverage — The New York Times · Also covered by The Guardian, NPR, Newsweek, and The Washington Post
2023 How to make your scientific data accessible, discoverable and useful — Nature
2022 Behind the Scenes of “The Future of Data Science”: An Interview with Ciera Martinez — Nightingale Magazine
2022 150 Years Celebration of Women in Computing at Berkeley — UC Berkeley
2021 How to approach accessibility in academic data science — Academic Data Science Alliance
2021 The Gateway at UC Berkeley: Lighting the Way to Prevent California Wildfires — UC Berkeley
2020 100 Inspiring Hispanic/Latinx Scientists in America — Cell Crosstalk
2019 Decoding the Secrets of Plants’ Stunning Leaf Patterns — Smithsonian Magazine
2019 11 Ways to Avert a Data-storage Disaster — Nature
2018 Watch These Flies Turn Into Zombies — National Geographic
2018 The State of Open Science and What’s Ahead — Medium
2018 Mozilla Announces 25 New Fellows in Openness, Science, and Tech Policy — Mozilla
2015 Rule Rewrite Aims to Clean up Scientific Software — Nature
2012 Is Your Leaf Left Handed? — Science Daily