About

I’m a Presidential Management Fellow working at the National Institutes of Health in an amazing rotation program. Recently, I earned a PhD in genetics at Iowa State University, with a minor in sustainable agriculture. My doctoral research included improving nutritional quality of maize through genetic engineering and selective breeding, as well as investigating unintended effects of genetic engineering. Before that, I worked with public health in the Army. If you’d like to learn more about how I got to where I am, check out my resume. You may know me from my posts at Biofortified or my agvocacy as @geneticmaize on Twitter. Now that I’m busy at my new job, I’m trying to figure out how I fit into the blogosphere.

As a maize geneticist, I was very interested in the intersection between science and policy when it comes to agriculture. Specifically, I was (and still am) interested in how crop genetics, farming methods, food storage, and food preparation affect food safety and nutrient bioavailability. Now I have the opportunity to learn more about science communication and science policy from a professional point of view, along with legislative analysis, project management, budgeting, and a million other things.

Looking for the blog? In 2006, I started Genetic Maize in an attempt to dispel myths about GMOs and other science topics. After finding like minded people on the web, I helped found Biofortified, where you can find my posts along with those of other scientists.