Growing up in central PA, I developed a true passion for sustainable living through engagement with recycling initiatives, ecological service projects and sustainable food fairs.  As I spent much of my formative years on my family's dairy farm, I realized how important it is to answer questions of sustainability in our agricultural sector. After exploring plant ecology and ethnobotany in England, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Oregon, I returned "home" to begin my masters in Agricultural and Environmental Plant Science at Penn State. 

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Currently, I study weed ecology and I desire to expand my studies into Latin America as well as provide extension opportunities to latinx agricultural workers in the US. My focus is ecological weed management through control of the weed seedbank. Can we utilize natural crop-weed interference, through alterations in the soil microbiome, to increase weed seed mortality? 

Through my research, I aim to promote sustainable agriculture and reduce the environmental impacts of traditional weed management techniques while also providing management options for herbicide resistant weeds.