In early 2022, I published one of my thesis chapters, entitled “Consequences of coupled barriers to gene flow for the build‐up of genomic differentiation” in the journal Evolution. This was a major project involving extensive collaboration and effort between Jeremy, Steve B, and myself at Cornell and Erik Dopman and Genny Kozak at Tufts and UMass – Dartmouth, respectively. I was very excited to see this come out.
In the spring of 2022, I was fortunate to be able to work as a teaching assistant aboard the Grand Daphne for the Biology Scholar’s Program trip to the Galápagos Islands. This was the trip of a lifetime, and I’ll never take for granted the chance to see in person the symbolic birthplace of the field evolutionary biology while observing countless birds, fish, sea lions, turtles, and flora. The students and instructors were incredible companions, and I have many fond memories I’ll cherish.
Thanks to the support of the Searle Lab, my committee members, and many friends, I successfully defended my PhD thesis in May 2022. I was grateful for the chance to travel back to Ithaca from my current residence in Minneapolis for an in person seminar, defense, and celebration.
Over the summer, I spent time with family and friends in Minnesota while revising my dissertation and planning for my next steps. I decided that I wanted to pursue a career outside of traditional academic tracks, which led me to my current position, working as a research scientist and bioinformatician with the Minnesota Department of Health in the Public Health & Infectious Diseases Laboratory.
My work here consists of building and maintaining genomics pipelines for various pathogens – sars-cov2, Streptococcus, Candida, and influenza, to name a few. I also engage with members of other state public health laboratories to share and develop resources for performing genomic analyses of threats to public health. As I grow into this new role, I’m hopeful of developing collaborative research projects to further our understanding of the genomics of human pathogens so we can respond to and contain future outbreaks and pandemics.
I’m grateful to have maintained academic collaborators from my time in graduate school, and I was thrilled to publish in late 2022 a paper that came out of a collaboration with Jeremy and Joana Paupério titled “Characterizing Mitochondrial Capture in an Iberian Shrew.” My dissertation work had forced Jeremy to learn more than he probably wished to about moth pheromones, so it was particularly fun to dip my toe into his subject area. I am currently working to finalize a few more publications stemming work during my graduate studies.
In my spare time, I enjoy exploring the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul (especially their thriving restaurant and brewery scene), going for hikes, rock climbing, gardening, and cooking meals.
