I am a USDA postdoctoral fellow at the University of Illinois, advised by Katy Heath (Associate Professor in Plant Biology) and co-advised by Posy Busby at Oregon State University. I am exploring how aboveground and belowground plant symbionts modify each other, and ultimately host plant defense and productivity. Specifically, I am using soybean (Glycine max), an agriculturally important legume, to study how the host’s characteristic N-fixing rhizobia bacteria interact with foliar endophytic fungi. Understanding and harnessing interactions between multiple beneficial plant symbionts could be a fruitful avenue for sustainable agriculture and represent a future direction for crop breeding programs. Visit my website and Google Scholar page for more information!
