I help learners and scientists achieve their educational or research goals. I’m experienced, and equally comfortable, in education and research settings.I first worked in biotech as an undergraduate, assisting with the company goal to create transgenic plants that were insect resistant. Working with these emerging technologies confirmed my desire to continue my education at Indiana University, where I studied molecular factors that determine if a plant resists or gets disease from a pathogen. This involved using a forward genetics approach and the research tools of genetics and molecular biology. This work resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications. My fascination with hosts and microbes continued during my time at Kansas State University. This postdoctoral research was supported through a competitive grant that I wrote, and it utilized a reverse genetics approach and expression analysis.I am self-motivated and strive to improve my abilities. To develop my teaching skills, I worked as an adjunct instructor until procuring a long-term position at South Dakota State University. Here, I received yearly evaluations, which include student evaluation scores and comments. I sought out information on better pedagogical practices, incorporated active learning into lectures, contributed to curriculum development, and coordinated laboratory experiences. My location in Sioux Falls was separate from the main campus and lacked a lab support position, so much of lab preparation and organization was my responsibility. This campus serves people from diverse backgrounds, including nontraditional students. I am proud to have worked for a university committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. I have used educational technology to incorporate closed captions into videos. And I have been compliant with campus efforts to make sure course materials (like PowerPoint slides and Word documents) were ADA compliant and digitally accessible through the Learning Management System (Desire2Learn).Course offerings included providing microbiology prerequisites for nursing and dental hygiene students. I strived to make my teaching engaging, relevant to student interests, and with clear learning outcomes described. It was satisfying to see these students move forward in their chosen field.More recently, I have worked for Cannabis ChemLab, providing compliance testing (microbials), creating training materials and SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), and developing and conducting experiments for lab accreditation.