My career could be summarized as "better biomass" for "better biochemicals".My training and original work covered various aspects of plant physiology/engineering, promoting biomass and drought tolerance. This track also allowed me to invent and learn different molbio assays. In the last few years, I've been a scientist within a Biomanufacturing Institute (Agile Biofoundry @LBL), leading 'methods development' for synbio assisted by process automation (e.g., DBTL tools, HTP assays, NGS approaches), and metabolic engineering of small molecules in yeast/fungi through plant biomass fermentation. I am passionate about technology development (i.e., materializing ideas) and hope my efforts will help us produce renewable biochemicals from sustainable agriculture.I have worked independently and as part of a team. I love being around people, so in the last 2 years, I have independently studied personal aspects of human behavior to successfully manage teams that capitalize on the uniqueness of each member for both individual well-being and effective group work.