Fall 2017
I grew up in New Jersey and I received a B.A. in Biological Sciences at Rutgers University in 2011. After graduation, I worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA for three years as a research assistant for a sustainable aquaculture project where my main focus was to develop a sustainable tilapia feed using plant-based ingredients available in Haiti. After witnessing devastating effects of soil erosion during my frequent trips to Haiti, I developed a strong interest in learning more about soil systems. I returned to graduate school in 2014 and completed my M.S. degree in Soil Science at Cornell University in 2017 where I focused on soil microbiology. I am now back at Rutgers and starting a PhD program in the department of Ecology and Evolution to gain a deeper knowledge of soil microbial ecology and plan to investigate plant-microbe interactions of various NJ coastal plant species.