Dr. Villarreal joined Gulf South Research Corporation (GSRC) in 2016 as a Staff Ecologist. She has over 15 years of experience in ecological and biological research, particularly in vegetation survey, monitoring, and change assessment. As part of her doctoral and post-doctoral work she gained experience in geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, vegetation mapping, data management, data analysis, and publishing in the scientific community. With GSRC Dr. Villarreal has managed multiple projects, performed field surveys for biological resources, prepared numerous technical reports, perfomed extensive data collection and analysis, and supported ecological restoration projects. Dr. Villarreal has done biological sampling and research in Alaska, Antarctica, Arizona, California, Canada, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and has collaborated with numerous native, private, and government organizations.