Sustainable management in a changing world
INSPIRATION
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
I have a passion for understanding how ecosystems work and what drives ecological processes. Before age 10 I lived in Florida, Belgium, and New Jersey and while living in these diverse locations, I found myself constantly drawn to the differences in my environment. Throughout my childhood, I also spent much of my time on my grandparent’s farm in North Carolina, learning about plant growth and insect herbivores. Although I did not know it then, my childhood primed me for a career in ecology.
It was not until my sophomore year of college that I learned about ecology as a field of study that I could pursue as a career. My first research project on root-knot nematodes initiated my desire to study ecological processes. Since then I have worked in many different locations from Michigan to Maryland to Minnesota to North Carolina and more.
