For my followers who may be unfamiliar CAM is Crassulacean acid metabolism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crassulacean_acid_metabolism

The introduction is telling the audience her academic background and reading from the letters that nominated her as BSA Emerging Leader 2023. #Botany2023

She was fortunate enough to have a fellowship in grad school so her PI urged her to find a project that really interested her.

Desert fieldwork brought her to grad school so she did some reading to see what she could see and found an interesting subject & paper with a nearish place to study. #Botany2023

Dr. Heyduk is giving a basic review of why CAM is advantageous to the plant species that have this.

CAM has evolved multiple times across phylogenies, but sometimes even within the same tree. #Botany2023