about
My research focuses on the application of natural language processing methods in plant biology, with the aim of improving human life and sustainability through improved scientific workflows.
I first began research as an undergraduate at Cornell University, working with Georg Jander at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, NY. While pursuing a bachelor of arts in biochemistry, I worked in the lab and greenhouse on characterizing mutants in the benzoxazinoid pathway in maize, and characterizing pesticide uptake across maize inbred lines for my undergraduate honors thesis. However, during a summer NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates working with Dr. Bob VanBuren at Michigan State University on the genomics of facultative Crassulacean acid metabolism in succulents, I was bitten by the programming bug. Returning to school my senior year, I took computer science classes and applied to graduate school in plant biology. I spent several years in the Shiu Lab at Michigan State, where I worked on applications of machine learning interpretability and natural language processing in the plant sciences. I’ve since transitioned to the HAAIL and VanBuren labs, where I’ve continued my focus on natural language processing in the plant sciences - check out the projects page for more info on active projects. Upon graduation, I plan to pursue a career in industry, and hope to use applications of machine learning to improve sustainability and security in agriculture and biofuel feedstocks.
Alongside my degree in biochemistry, I also pursued Spanish language throughout my undergraduate career. After a year and a half living in Cornell University’s Language House, several undergraduate immersion courses, and a semester studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain with the CASA Sevilla program, I am proudly fluent in Spanish. I am always looking for opportunities to merge my dual academic interests, and in the past have participated in internship and coursework experiences in conservation biology (The Ara Project, Punta Islita, Costa Rica) and plant molecular diagnostics (multi-semester course with a component in Santiago de Chile) that combined scientific learning and teaching with immersive Spanish language experiences. Most recently, I was selected as a semi-finalist in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, where I applied for a grant to spend 9 months conducting my dissertation research in Santiago de Chile.
I’m proudly #BiInSci and passionate about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. I volunteered at Out for Undergrad Engineering in 2020 as a mentor to queer engineering undergraduates, and have since joined the year-round mentorship program. At my own institution, I worked with a team of queer graduate students and the Gender and Sexuality Campus Center to restart QT-Grad, an organization for queer graduate students across the university, and served as the president of the organization for its first year. Beyond LGBTQ+-specific DEI work, I was a founding member of the Plant Biology Peer Mentorship Committee, whereI worked in a team of 3 to design and implement a new peer mentorship program for incoming students in our department. We designed this program specifically bearing in mind the outsized attrition of underrepresented minority (URM) and queer graduate students from our program compared to their representation in the department, and have completed several successful years of the program. By extension, I also helped the Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering Department’s DEI committee adapt our program materials for their own implementation of a peer mentorship program.
Anti-racism statement: I recognize that I have unwittingly benefitted from systems of racism and oppression in the US, and am working to educate myself and become an effective co-conspirator against anti-Black racism.
In my spare time, I love ballet, rock climbing, backpacking, photography, and science fiction. The photos on all the pages on this site are ones I’ve taken! I split my free time between my sports, taking pictures, reading books and learning new languages.
Updated: 03 April 2023