I grew up in Massachusetts, and then moved to Rochester, NY to get an undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester where I majored in Biomedical Engineering with a concentration in Medical Optics and minored in Electrical & Computer Engineering, Health Policy, and Optics. I also was accepted into University of Rochester’s “Take Five” program, which allowed me have a tuition-free fifth year of undergraduate study in Chinese Language and Culture where I took courses in language, dance, anthropology, history, and religion.

As an undergraduate, I had many wonderful experiences in academic research in the labs of Professor Andrew Berger, Professor Danielle Benoit, and participated in a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the lab of Professor Stephen Boppart.

I eventually decided to return to Illinois to pursue my PhD in Bioengineering with a focus on label-free optical imaging. I received my MS in Bioengineering in August 2020 with a thesis titled: “Development of fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy techniques for analysis of single extracellular vesicles.”

I am currently working on finishing my PhD thesis (“Computational methods for fast nonlinear optical microscopy of label-free metabolic dynamics in live organisms”) with the plan to graduate in 2024. Please check out the Research section for more information on my current work. I hope to continue engineering new solutions to better understand biological phenomena throughout my career!

When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy spending time outdoors, playing trivia, and hanging out with friends and family. I am extroverted and love being active and trying new things. I also enjoy juggling, and have been known to juggle knives or flaming clubs on special occasions.