Responsible for developing and optimizing a high-throughput fermentation screening platform for filamentous fungi aimed at maximizing titer of high value natural product therapeutics.• Cultivated filamentous fungi at small- (96-well plates, shake flasks) to medium-scales (1-4L fermentors)• Scaled up and scaled down fermentation processes for production and R&D, respectively• Quantified natural products via HPLC; monitored nutrients via Cedex machine• Developed computer interface for Cedex machine in C++ for more efficient sample processing• Troubleshooted and maintained fermentation and analytical equipment• Created data visualizations using R programming and Spotfire• Collaborated with various teams to plan and execute experiments• Presented results at departmental meetings

Used field collection datasets (e.g., GBIF, MyCoPortal) for geospatial analyses of fungal traits (e.g., substrate/habitats associations), and used lab and field experiments to further characterize these traits.• Developed R package to facilitate large-scale (e.g., global) geospatial analyses of fungal traits using field collection data (https://github.com/hjsimpso/fungarium)• Built and optimized a machine-learning model for predicting geospatial distributions of fungi• Utilized third-party biodiversity (GBIF) and geospatial (Natural Earth; Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity) databases for fungal trait analyses• Queried and wrangled large (e.g., millions of records) biodiversity (tree and fungi) datasets• Created advanced data visualizations (e.g., annotated maps and dendrograms) in R• Used remote sensing data (Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity) to study fungal fire association• Analyzed microbial sequence data from wood using DNA metabarcoding/bioinformatics tools• Conducted field experiment for investigating fungal biodiversity in a fire-prone ecosystem• Cultivated filamentous fungi: liquid (shake flasks) and solid-state (agar plates, soil jars)• Characterized fungal degradation of lignocellulose substrates using HPLC techniques• Collaborated with both domestic and international colleagues• Published manuscripts in scientific journals• Presented at conferences and public outreach events

Tested the abilities of hyperthermophilic bacteria to break down and ferment plant biomass for applications in cellulosic biofuel production. • Prepared and monitored anaerobic liquid cultures (@70°C): 50 mL bottles, 2 L bioreactors• Compared fermentation efficiency using different plant biomass types and growth conditions• Analyzed the relative degradation of different biomass components using HPLC• Measured fermentation products (acetate, lactate, ethanol) using HPLC• Contributed to a publication; presented at a research symposium