Term appointment with the National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN) Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Program.Duties and Related Skills:-Use an internal bioinformatics pipeline to document, track, and report on observed resistance genes within the maintained NAHLN AMR dataset.-Monitor the publicly facing NAHLN AMR dashboard to ensure data integrity and accuracy.-Routinely communicate with participating veterinary diagnostic laboratories to collect data, convey results, and relay any updates to standard operating procedures and standards literature.-Perform antimicrobial susceptibility testing using Sensititre broth microdilution platforms.-Communicate ongoing research via internal and external webinars.-Review Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute Guidelines and conduct literature reviews of relevant research topics on an as needed basis.-Assist in managing external collaborations with other governmental agencies including ARS, CDC, FDA, and CEAH.Accomplishments:-Maintained, as part of a team, a large-scale dataset, over 30,000 isolates spanning seven years, within the Palantir data integration system.-Assisted in the development of standard operating procedures for routine data analysis and management tasks.-Identified areas for process optimization in routine data analysis and management tasks and worked collaboratively to provide automation where possible using the R programming language.-Maintained a publicly facing BioProject through the routine submission of next-generation sequencing data to the National Center for Biotechnology Information Sequence Read Archive.-Planned, modified, and executed a methods validation experiment.-Performed data analysis and visualization using the R programming language.-Communicated research findings at a national conference.-Gathered, reviewed, and summarized data to generate an end of year report for public distribution of results from 2021.-Served as an internal reviewer for grant proposals.

Term appointment housed within the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.Duties and Related Skills:-Collaborated as part of a multi-disciplinary team that included ecologists, environmental scientists, environmental engineers, microbiologists, chemists, and extension and outreach personnel.-Assisted in the development of standard operating procedures for new laboratory techniques.-Presented during field days and webinars communicating ongoing research to faculty and other stakeholders.Accomplishments:-Participated in grant writing experiences as both a principal investigator and co-author.-Created extension pieces including fact sheets, blog posts, and booklets communicating findings in an effective and engaging manner.-Communicated research findings with a poster presentation at an international conference.

Concurrent research position as part of graduate degree, housed with the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering.Duties and Related Skills:-Assisted in three research projects aimed at monitoring AMR in the microbial communities of land and water resources and characterizing the impact of agricultural management and practices on environmental quality.-Planned, modified, and executed experimental designs.-Performed microbiological and molecular biological techniques including bacterial culture, DNA prep, qPCR, and HT-qPCR.-Performed data analysis and visualization, including the processing of next-generation sequencing data, using the R programming language.-Gathered, reviewed, and summarized literature from scientific journals.-Collaborated with three other graduate students funded under the same grant.-Presented and participated during monthly lab meetings.-Volunteered as a reviewer for several relevant journals.Accomplishments:-Conducted a plot-scale field experiment, a laboratory-scale flume experiment, and bench top microcosm experiment.-Published two first author manuscripts and two co-authored manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, with one additional first author manuscript currently in review.-Communicated research findings with poster presentations and oral presentations at local, national, and international conferences.-Served as president of the Environmental Science Graduate Student Organization for two years, organizing and obtaining funds for the annual Environmental Science Graduate Research Symposium.-Participated as a member of the both the Environmental Science Graduate Student Organization Agricultural and the Biosystems Engineering Graduate Student Organization for four years.

Full time technician as part of the crop protection division of research and development.Duties and Related Skills:-Conducted greenhouse work including gathering of phenotypic data, sample collection and, and sample preparation.-Conducted field work including hand pollination of corn to produce cross pollinated offspring, sample collection, and sample preparation.-Performed microbiological and molecular biological techniques including bacterial culture, cell culture, plasmid prep, PCR, qPCR, restriction enzyme digests, Western blots, DNA cloning, and bacterial transformation.-Performed data entry and statistical analysis in Microsoft Excel.-Created standard operating procedures for routine laboratory tasks.-Trained new lab personnel on routine laboratory procedures and tasks.Accomplishments:-Prepared written reports describing methodology used and summarizing results and findings for principal investigator.

Semester internship with the large mammal team.Roles and Responsibilities:-Routinely maintained the quality and cleanliness of animal enclosures through disinfection, selection of enrichment, and allocation of diet.-Observed and assisted with the transport of animals.-Observed and assisted in animal training.-Observed various procedures performed by veterinary staff.

Summer internship with the Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Unit of the National Animal Disease Center.Duties and Related Skills:-Observed and assisted with microbiological, immunological, and molecular biological techniques including bacterial culture, cell culture, ELISA, plasmid prep, PCR, electrophoresis, and RNAscope.-Assisted with large animal experiments including handling, sampling, and necropsy.-Performed data entry and statistical analysis in Microsoft Excel.-Maintained current and detailed laboratory notebook through entirety of internship.-Read and discussed professional publications as part of a routine journal club.-Assisted current laboratory technicians and graduate students on an as needed basis.

Semester position with an interdisciplinary neuroscience team focused on investigating the development and manipulation of complex behaviors in zebrafish.Duties and Related Skills:-Sustained quality living environment for zebrafish, including transportation, handling, feeding, and maintenance of flow through aquatic habitat.-Obtained automated video tracking of zebrafish behavior.-Performed data entry and statistical analysis in Microsoft Excel.-Conducted literature review relevant to research topic.-Collaborated with principal investigators, professors, and other student researchers.Accomplishments:-Organized and consolidated information into a standard manuscript format.-Presented research at the Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium.

Returning temporary summer hire with the corn insects and crop genetics research unit.Duties and Related Skills:-Trained first-year crew members.-Drove university vehicles to and from field sites across Iowa.-Read and interpreted field maps, staking fields for project specifications.-Obtained phenotypic field data, including stand counts, stand heights, and notes on flower and silk stage.-Data entry using Microsoft Excel.-Performed roguing and detasseling.-Performed hand pollination of corn to produce cross pollinated offspring.

Temporary summer hire with the corn insects and crop genetics research unit.Duties and Related Skills:-Drove university vehicles to and from field sites across Iowa.-Read and interpreted field maps, staking fields for project specifications.-Obtained phenotypic field data, including stand counts, stand heights, and notes on flower and silk stage.-Data entry using Microsoft Excel.-Performed roguing and detasseling.-Performed hand pollination of corn to produce cross pollinated offspring.