BACKGROUND:                        

            I was born on the south side of Chicago in the late seventies to two wonderful parents and their oldest daughter. I grew up in a small town named Sleepy Hollow, IL, where I graduated from Dundee Crown High School. During this time, I cultivated an interest in plants in general and had many summer jobs in the industry. I decided to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for a bachelor’s degree in Ornamental Horticulture, with a specialty in Greenhouse Management and Floriculture. In the course of earning my degree, I was fortunate enough to take a few genetics classes and work for a wheat breeding program. This started my interest in genetics and I eventually decided to work towards my Master’s degree at The Ohio State University. I intend to finish my degree in June and move to Columbus, OH to find a research position at one of the universities in the area.

AREA OF STUDY:

        I am currently working towards a Master’s degree in plant breeding and genetics, with a focus on genotype-by-environment interactions. My advisers and I are working to identify a small, red variety of potato that can be grown in Ohio for the specialty potato market.