About me
I started my career in plant science at the University of Arizona in 2012 searching for apomictic or self-compatible varieties of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), a perennial warm season bunchgrass native to North America, with Josh Weaver in Dr. Ken A. Feldmann’s lab. As an obligate outcrossing species and an auto-tetraploid, discovering elite varieties that can be propagated through apomixis, asexual reproduction that results in seed, or that can be self-pollinated to produce recombinant inbred lines could really boost the rate of gain for this biofuel crop. I then began characterizing germination phenotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana grown under controlled environments and subjected to several different types of nutrient stresses (e.g. ABA, mannitol, NaCl, and sucrose). Ongoing work on these lines is made possible by the vast amounts of preliminary data that was collected during my time on this project. Subsequently, I started as an undergraduate research assistant in the lab of Dr. Noah K. Whiteman studying how the insect herbivore, Scaptomyza flava, as they adapt to and interact with different plant hosts and environmental conditions. The interactions between these species are possibly the driving force behind adaptive genetic variation, as different insect morphs allow for variable fitness. The fitness capabilities are related to genetically determined phenotypes that can be traced through generations. I also worked on a genome wide association study aimed to elucidate the genetic architecture of plant traits in A. thaliana affecting several insect herbivore phenotypes.
I began my PhD at the University of California, Davis in September of 2015 with Dr. Steven J. Knapp in the Department of Plant Sciences. My research interests include the analysis of quantitative traits, genomic selection and hybrid prediction, and evolutionary trajectories of cultivated strawberry Fragaria x ananassa. I am learning how to tackle the complex issues involved with breeding high ploidy species. I have also been privileged with the support to explore and develop high-throughput image based phenotyping for measuring fruit characteristics in 3-D, with Dr. Amy Tabb, my longest running collaboration. This collaboration has led me deeper into the rabbit hole of multivariate statistics, computer vision, and machine learning.
I graduated from UC Davis in September of 2020 and began working as the Genetics Application Leader at HM Clause in hot and sweet pepper. In May 2021 I started as Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of California, Davis in the Strawberry Breeding Program where I intend to follow up on questions revolving around heterosis, hybrid prediction, and fruit quality in strawberry using genome informed breeding approaches. I also hope to continue developing phenotyping strategies and statistical analyses for measuring and interrogating complex traits and complex trait variation.