I grew up just outside of Albany, NY, but spent many summers with my family in the Adirondacks. I loved to be outside playing sports, swimming, hiking, biking, or just enjoying nature. As an athlete, I was always curious about how the body worked and what allowed humans to perform at their best. I opted to take as many science classes as possible in high school, even testing out of gym class to open up room for me to take an Anatomy and Physiology elective! For college, I attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to follow two of my passions: science and playing lacrosse! After receiving my B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics, I moved across the country to Salt Lake City, Utah to pursue a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at the University of Utah. My research there was focused on helping physicians better understand how inherited mutations in genes related to colorectal cancer development could be used to predict onset and severity of the disease. In collaboration with Myriad Genetics, a genetic testing company based in Salt Lake City, we developed a genetic screen for FAP (familial adenomatous coli), a type of colorectal cancer found in family lineages. It was during my Ph.D. that I had the opportunity to teach a chemistry course within the nursing program at the university, eventually accepting a position as a lecturer in the chemistry department. While I loved to teach, I didn’t love the impersonal nature of teaching in lecture halls with hundreds of students! I left teaching to accept a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University but missed it so much that I returned to the profession a few years later, first teaching at the Waterford School in Salt Lake City, and eventually at Beaver, where I joined the science department in 2013. When I’m not teaching chemistry or biology, I enjoy coaching and pursuing outdoor activities with my family. I’m also an avid runner (both road and trail), even running my first marathon at the Boston Marathon in 2017!