Marie Lawton is a Ph.D. student studying Food Microbiology in the Alcaine Research Group at Cornell University. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a B.S. in Food Science in 2016. At Cornell, her research focuses on utilizing biopreservation methods to reduce food waste. She is currently working on producing a vinegar beverage from acid whey using yeast. A product like this could become popular on the market as a health tonic and would be made entirely from a waste stream. She is also looking at several lactic acid bacteria with antilisterial activity as an application to fresh cheese to protect against Listeria monocytogenes. In addition to research, Marie is Vice President of the Graduate Student Division of the American Dairy Science Association where she leads the Career Development Committee. As Marie works toward completing her degree she aspires to lead her own research program one day, contributing to cutting edge tools for food safety.