Emma was a wonderful person and an incredible scientist who I feel so lucky to have known. As an undergrad at Cornell, I participated in two of the student trips that Emma led to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. I have very fond memories of both trips, they range from seeing a bobcat in Alamo Canyon at dusk one night to driving to Mexico just for popsicles. We also marveled at the endemic blue pupfish at Quitobaquito Springs.
I've never met anyone with Emma's ability to combine light humor and welcoming friendliness with amazing field skills. She put everyone at ease — including students like me who were anxious about camping in remote places — while teaching us the ornithology skills that we would need to succeed in graduate school.
Though we stayed in touch via email, I had not seen her in many years until the AOS conference in Colorado last fall. It was wonderful to reconnect and meet Veda, and I'm so grateful now for that time. I just want to emphasize my gratitude for her impact on my life. It is unlikely that I would be in my PhD program without her influence. She will be dearly missed.
5
I have been so moved in reading all these tributes. Emma was clearly a very special person who touched so many people's lives. She brought such fun and joy to every situation.
I've known Emma since the beginning of grad school now over 20 years ago. We bonded immediately and frequently hung out to drink beer and play video games (often Secret of Mana). Over the next few years we would go dancing, go to bars, go camping, make dinners, take several trips to the desert (3 or 4?), do sleepovers, and sometimes even talk about science. Without her I'm afraid grad school would have been a very different (i.e. worse) experience.
After grad school we didn't see each other as much, but every year or so we would go camping or one of us would visit the other. We stayed close and she is one of the few people I talked to about my divorce and other big life events. We rebonded over having daughters within two months of each other in 2021. I loved hearing about Veda who I finally got to meet this past summer when my family visited Emma in the Detroit area and even got to stay at her Aunt's house (Emma always liked a good deal and wanted her friends to also benefit from them!). What a fun time for everyone - for the little girls especially. We discussed how we were going to make it an annual event.
So, good bye my dear friend. I will really miss you, but will do my best to think of the fun times and not how they were cut too short. Hugs to your family and everyone on this page.
In your honor I hope to redouble my efforts to hang out with my other friends and try to pass along some of the joy you brought to my life. I also plan to stay in Veda and Krishna's life.
6
I first met Emma when I was a bright-eyed bushy-tailed freshman and she was a postdoc at the Lab of O. She immediately took me under her wing. She was the best mentor I could’ve ever had: incredibly kind, effortlessly cool, and brilliantly smart. Her enthusiasm and interest shone through in all our conversations and work together, and I can honestly say that I wanted to be like Emma when I “grew up”!
One memory that just encapsulates Emma's personality was when she was transferring some project files onto a flash drive for me, and decided to just throw in — “for inspiration!” — a jpg that she had saved on her desktop of the Time Magazine Person of the Year cover featuring women who spoke up in the #MeToo movement. She had a particular knack for what I can only describe as taking life deeply seriously but not taking any single moment overly seriously!
After I graduated and Emma started her job at the Lab, we continued to hang out and our relationship morphed into a friendship that I will cherish forever. From board game nights to game drives in Kenya, campfires well into the bitter Ithaca winter during covid, and catch-ups over beer, Emma was always so kind, open, funny, and caring. I am so lucky to have known her and I am going to miss her very, very much. Sending much love, hugs, and support to Krishna, Veda, family and friends.
9
Emma had a singular, undeniable spark for life that radiated throughout the rooms and spaces that she entered, livening up the mood and bringing carefree feelings to all involved. This was apparent through grad school, on the desert trip I joined in for in 2011, and most recently at the 2023 Evolution meeting in Abq, NM when a bunch of us UChi grads reconnected. That last encounter takes on extra meaning now, as the same vivaciousness extended from Emma to the rest of the group and made for a wonderful reunion evening. My heart aches at the pain left to her young family, and to the gaps in joy Emma's passing passing now leaves. May we all take her tangible expressions of joy, sorrow, and human experience as examples for spreading joy in our own lives.
7
2011, City of Rocks State Park, NM-61, Faywood, NM, USA
2
2011, City of Rocks State Park, NM-61, Faywood, NM, USA
Emma with a darling pocket mouse (Chaetodipus penicillatus)
4
Emma had a contagious sort of curiosity and intelligence, she had so much of both that it rubbed off on the people around her. In her presence you'd find yourself drawn to what previously seemed ordinary, her curiosity in the object or idea revealing a lesson, a hidden meaning, an interconnectivity, or a whimsical detail previously unnoticed.
I've always been so impressed by how confident and determined she was in her study of birds from an early age and would invoke her name often in discussions regarding finding purpose in life. Richard & Diane should be so proud and deserve a great deal of credit in helping her on that path from such an early age.
I'm grateful to have known Emma and fortunate to be sharing a life with her sister Lily, who looked up to her, loved her and shares many of her best qualities.
5
Emma and I overlapped during graduate school in the Darwinian Sciences Cluster at UChicago. She was such a warm, kind, positive and FUN person!
I had the good fortune to be on one of Eric Larsen's "Desert Ecology in the Southwest" trips with Emma. She, and her sister Lily, amazed me with their excellent planning skills for group meals and gear organization. And their extremely fun and easygoing natures! I always admired Emma for her ability to just go with the flow and not worry about things too much.
Emma has been in my thoughts since she graduated in 2010 and I regret not reaching out to her. I was happy to learn that she had found a great position in the Lab of Ornithology. I am so very sorry for her family and their sudden loss. The world has lost a wonderful person.
5
2006, Brookfield Conservation Park, Blanchetown SA, Australia
4
2005, fieldwork at Brookfield Conservation Park, Australia
1
Emma and I did our PhDs together at U Chicago. We shared an office and spent time chasing fairy-wrens around the Australian bush together. We decided to get hamsters for our office pets during our time at UofC, we got two and named them Emmel and Melemm (both a mix of Emma and Mel). I still don't have the words to express my grief and how much Emma meant to me. Emma was an amazing person and her passing leaves a hole in my heart. She was my academic sister, we shared good and bad times, and I will always love her fiercely. She made my life better. Although we hadn't seen each other in person for some time, we continued to share photos of our lives and especially photos of our daughters with one another, and I was so happy to get a glimpse into her beautiful life with Krishna and Veda. My deepest condolences to Krishna and Veda, to Lily, to Emma's parents and to all her family and friends.
10
I didn't spend enough time with this amazing human being. When I would visit briefly from Florida or Hawaii, Emma used to call it a "nanosecond"of a visit 😂🤣😅
But every memory I have is lovely. We clicked. We would easily chat about everything under the sun and moon🌙
I got to be with her toward the end. She talked about her life as if she'd already lived a long one.
She shared about traveling the world and seeing so many natural wonders and how in recent years, she and Krishna had created a family life that was special in its own way.
We talked about our ancestors, our grandmothers, and how they live on in us. She said this had meaning for her, and she liked the idea of her living on in Veda.
She also thought I was cool, which I never really saw in myself. I decided I'd try to see myself through her eyes.
Thanks, Emma, for blessing me with your friendship. 💗
I'll miss you, cousin Mona
7
I loved being with Emma. We became friends because of our birdy connections and it just grew from there. Before the pandemic, we worked on getting stronger together at the climbing gym, with conversations about our lives and relationships (I remember so much excitement about her relationship with you, Krishna - she was so happy to be spending time with you), and efforts to be the types of people we wanted to be. After we had our kids, the time (too little) we spent together was built around them - stroller/carrier walks playdates, bday parties. Emma was always so authentic and she had this sort of honest kindness that created room for me to be myself with her too; mistakes, the truth about how hard things could be, and how great things could be. I am having a hard time accepting that we won't be able to have that space, or time together again. Thank you for the space to share in your grief, and please accept my condolences Krishna, Veda, Lily, Richard, Diane, and all Emma's family and friends.
3
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