Executed an in planta microbe screening pipeline in controlled environments, both in growth chambers and greenhouses. • Developed in planta nutrient deficit assays for screening biological products.• Adjusted growing conditions to more quickly subject plants to nutrient deficit for faster screening.• Worked closely with facilities staff to diagnose and correct environmental issues including temperature, irrigation, and lighting systems.• Diagnosed and addressed plant health issues stemming from microbial, chemical, and environmental conditions.• Designed and executed large greenhouse studies on common row crops. Tasks included trial design, growth environment manipulation, pot filling, seed treatment, sowing and transplanting.• Performed lab maintenance including greenhouse sensor replacement, wiring, soldering, building irrigation systems and small engineering projects.• Managed data for multiple nutrient deficiency assays and crops. Employed data visualization software to present results to technical teams.• Managed in-house biological product inventory. Assessed viability of products and ordered new stocks as needed.• Organized and led team meetings. Maintained a calendar tracking team activities including assay harvests, clean up events and irrigation schedules.• Gave tours to diverse groups of visitors, including senior leadership, both internal and external.• Contributed to the development of an IPM program. Contributions included scouting, data analysis, application of biologicals and logistics management.

Responsible for isolating, characterizing, and evaluating bacteria for the production of biocement. • Isolated and characterized dozens of bacterial strains from field samples • Performed biochemical assays, brightfield and fluorescent microscopy, and enzyme activity assays to monitor fermentation performance • Developed fermentation methods for bioreactor experiments simulating natural environments to satisfy milestones on strict timelines • Served as primary point of contact for preventative maintenance and repair for several pieces of laboratory equipment

Led a work stream responsible for screening transgenic maize for drought tolerance phenotypes.• Coordinated logistics for a high-throughput drought screening pipeline to ensure timely delivery of phenotyping data that would be used to promote candidate materials to later stage research.• Communicated drought screening results to senior leadership and recommended advancement for several lead candidates.• Collaborated with multiple functions to maintain drought screening pipeline work flow.• Employed molecular biology and microbiological techniques to prepare materials for yeast two-hybrid screening that would provide information on potential drought phenotypes more quickly than in planta screening. • Led assay development activities for a greenhouse biomass accumulation assay in maize that would allow for quick decision making on candidate materials.• Applied for regulatory permits to enable the movement and release of transgenic plant materials required to conduct field trials.• Coordinated molecular characterization and documentation of thousands of transgenic T0 plants to enable logical decision making, plant selection and progression. • Served as Stewardship and Quality Management representative for the Agronomic Traits group.

Led a work stream responsible for evaluating transgenic sugarcane for yield enhancement in the field. Applied molecular biology and microbiological techniques to support yield enhancement projects.• Coordinated sampling and personnel logistics for evaluating sugarcane in remote field site and conducted the first GM sugarcane field trial at Syngenta.• Constructed more than twenty binary vectors for sugarcane transformation.• Transformed yeast to enable fermentation experiments on plant samples novel sugar profiles.• Sampled and processed thousands of field and greenhouse sugarcane tissue samples to obtain early sugar concentration data on plants producing novel sugars.• Purified protein from Pichia and Aspergillus cultures for use in exterior collaborations.• Maintained Agrobacterium strains and transformed soybean for use in a soy cyst nematode screening project.

Performed lab scale dry-grind ethanol fermentation experiments on what would become a commercial transgenic corn ethanol product.• Performed various starch degradation assays to inform industrial scale admixture ratios.• Traveled to industrial ethanol plant to observe onsite testing of a soon to be commercial transgenic corn ethanol product.