A.A. Associate of Arts. Northwest Florida State College

A.B. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Princeton University

As a Research Specialist working with the Kocher Lab at Princeton University, I explored how chemical signals may influence social variation in the socially flexible sweat bee Lasioglossum baleicum, as well as studied sequence variation and gene expression differences in other bee species. I also worked with Dr. William Wcislo at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to study the neurobiological profiles of the eusocial sweat bees Megalopta genalis’s and M. amoena, and the impacts of a manipulated social environment on their brains.

Currently, I am a graduate student in the Molecules, Cells and Organisms PhD program completing my thesis research in the Extavour Lab. In the Extavour Lab, I am researching the formation of neuron precursors, called neuroblasts, in the models Drosophila and Gryllus. I am interested in how neuroblast cell fate is determined and the subsequent cell division from neuroblasts during neurogenesis.