Lauren Esposito

Esposito was born and raised in El Paso, Texas.[1] She kept a collection of insects in egg cartons, and her first grade science project looked at the Mendelian genetics of pigeon colours.[1] Esposito earned her bachelor's degree in biology at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2003.[2] She became interested in scorpions during a National Science Foundation placement at the American Museum of Natural History.[1] She moved to New York for her graduate studies.[2] She completed her PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center and the American Museum of Natural History (Scorpion Systematics Research Lab) in 2011.[3] Her dissertation, "Systematics and Biogeography of the New World Scorpion Genus Centruroides Marx, 1890", considered Buthidae scorpions.[4]

Esposito teaching on the island of Saba

In 2011 she joined University of California, Berkeley as a postdoctoral researcher working on Caribbean scorpions.[1][5] She studied the biogeography of arachnids.[6] She joined the California Academy of Sciences in 2015, and is one of the world's only women scorpion experts.[7][8][9] She continued to study Buthidae scorpions at the California Academy of Sciences.[10][11] She digitises and collects genetic information from the collected scorpion species.[7] She is also working on arthropods in salt flats in western America.[12] Her current research considers the evolution of scorpion venom and distribution of scorpions in the Caribbean.[8] She has also studied the uses of scorpion venom in the context of cancer research and medication.[13] In 2017 she discovered three new species and two new genera of club-tailed scorpions,[14][15][16][17] detecting the scorpions using ultraviolet lights that excite a fluorescent dye in the scorpion armour.[3][18] The new species were of the genus Rhopalurus.[16] Whilst surveying the Penang Hill rainforest in Malaysia, Esposito identified a new ghost scorpion.[19][20] In 2018 she identified that Centruroidinae scorpions hiss by rubbing themselves with comb like structures.[21][22] She told Slate magazine that her favourite fact about scorpions was that they behave like mammals and bear live young.[23][24]

In 2014 Esposito was the co-founder of Islands & Seas, a non-profit that supports scientific research and education at its field station in Baja California Sur, Mexico.[10][25][26][27] She leads educational programs in Baja California and at Columbia University.[28] She is the creator of 500 Queer Scientists, a network of LGBTQ+ scientists worldwide.[29][30][31][32][33] She created 500 Queer Scientists after a survey of American STEM workers identified that over 40% of LGBTQ+ scientists were not 'out' to their colleagues.[34][35] She has appeared on Science Friday and Public Radio International.[36][37] In February 2019 she was awarded the Walt Westman Award by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP) as recognition for the 500 Queer Scientists initiative.[38] It is the highest national honor that NOGLSTP can award to a member, recognizing that individual's commitment to their mission.[39]

• Lauren Esposito on Twitter