A settler scholar originally from Los Angeles, CA (Achooykomenga in Tovaangar), Ava Guihama Olson holds a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley (xučyun). Their undergraduate work focused on organized crime, sex work, pornography, sexual war crimes, and the image of the Asian woman in American culture. As a doctoral student in the ESSP program, they research rhetorical, ecological, and eschatological modes of extinction, carnivore policy, hunting and taxidermy, white American identity formation, the American west/"frontier", roadkill, and novel ecosystems. Outside of academia, they also hold a degree in creative writing, with work published in The Offing and {m}aganda magazine, as well as by Roost Books.