Mars is a Ph.D. student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at University of Michigan. In 2023, they graduated from Pomona College with a BA in Biology and a minor in Africana Studies. Their current research interests include bats, disease ecology, host-parasite coevolution, metapopulation dynamics, and environmental justice. In the past, they investigated the seasonality of leukocyte responses and coronavirus infection prevalence for three species of Malagasy fruit bat.