I have a lifelong passion about science and discovering how the world works. During my undergraduate studies I became aware of the drastic environmental effects humans are having on planet earth. This led to my first job in science, analyzing waste water and soil for toxic chemicals. This job took me to Hawaii, and eventually I went to graduate school at The University of Hawaii to study pesticide alternatives. While all of my graduate studies revolved around fruit flies, my initial experiments focused on importing highly specific parasites from Kenya and determining their efficacy and non-target side effects in the Hawaii State Quarantine. These parasitic wasps were used to control the Mediterranean fruit fly, a world-wide pest. After a few years I became very interested in the quickly growing fields of genetics and molecular biology, and switched my doctoral thesis to focus on the genetics of another fruit fly pest, the melon fly.

My postdoc relocated me to my home town of Washington DC, where I continued to use genetics and molecular biology to study the brains of the classic fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This was my first introduction to neurobiology, and it was fascinating. I was a researcher at The National Institute of Mental Health for 12 years studying how a tiny brain works, how neurons communicate and form networks, and how hormones are released and respond on a cellular level. After a healthy amount of published papers, I decided to switch careers and start teaching science. I have tutored kids throughout the years, and am now focused on trying to inspire the next generation of scientists.