I joined the Ronald Lab as a junior specialist in late summer 2023. I earned my B.S. in Biology at Haverford College in Haverford, PA, but stem initially from rural Northeast Ohio. During my undergraduate studies, I investigated how microbes use small molecule messengers to communicate on a biomolecular level, focusing on interactions between marine phytoplankton, bacteria, and viruses. At the Ronald Lab, I've now shifted my focus to terrestrial plants, studying how rice recognizes and coordinates an immune response to pathogens. I hope to use this knowledge to engineer plants with enhanced pathogen recognition abilities. Outside of the lab, I enjoy cooking, gardening, hiking, and foraging for plants and fungi.