I fell in love with research the first time that I stepped foot into a lab. During my freshman year of undergrad, I became enraptured with the idea of searching for answers to what I didn’t understand. By the end of my undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering, three diverse internship experiences – including NASA – and four years of undergraduate research experience, I knew that I wanted to continue to do research. So, I moved from Kentucky to Houston, TX where I obtained my doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston. During graduate school, I identified the molecular pathways for crystal growth specifically to understand how Malaria parasites grow crystals. This quintessential information allowed me to pinpoint how antimalarial drugs block crystal growth in order to design new antimalarials. I applied my ability to control molecular-level surface interactions during my postdoc at MIT in Boston, MA where I created 3D-spatial scaffolds of cells (a synthetic organ of sorts) to reverse Type II Diabetes.

Throughout all of my studies, I continue to be fascinated by the unseen world around all of us. With over 17 years of experience across academic and industrial environments, I have collaborated with brilliant teams to solve global challenges by conducting fundamental research: something I continue with current exploration of the microscopic world in Chilean Patagonia through Bosque Lab Patagonia LLC., an open-access Laboratory focused on STEAM (science + technology + engineering + art + math) outreach.