As the PSU Microbiome Center's research project manager, I oversee center-wide research, education, and outreach programs. I am passionate about taking an interdisciplinary "One Health" approach to integrate human, animal, plant, and ecosystem microbiome research. 

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Additionally, I aim to increase science literacy by facilitating training and broadly communicating microbiome research findings to non-scientists, youth, policy makers, and other researchers.

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Previously, I earned my PhD in plant pathology from the University of California Riverside under the advisement of Caroline Roper. I studied tree crop (citrus) microbiomes in the context of disease and host phenology. Then, I joined Maggie Wagner's Lab in the Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Kansas as a Postdoctoral Researcher. I focused on host-microbiome evolution under drought-stress and microbial adaptations. I continue to collaborate with the Roper, Wagner, and several other labs. See the "research" tab above for more information on past and current research projects.