What is your research about and what is the impact? How does it relate to the horticulture industry, what is the goal?

My goal as a scientist and communicator is to be a connector of diverse scientists, researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders with different expertise. I want to leverage interdisciplinary collaboration to develop stronger ways to solve issues of injustice and inequity in food systems. In my current research work I am interested in using an agroecological approach to studying the impacts of pest management practices. My current work examines how plastic mulches can be used to manage an invasive pest of soft-skinned fruit crops, spotted-wing drosophila, without using insecticides. I’m investigating how plastic mulches influence the pest and the web of interactions among plastic mulches, arthropod diversity, plant productivity, fruit yield and quality, and soil in raspberry agroecosystems in Wisconsin.

What groups or initiatives or hobbies are you working with on campus or in Madison?

I’m the President of the Entomology Graduate Student Association, and I’m also a representative on the Entomology Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee where I chair the Department Climate & Safety Subcommittee and an Ad-hoc Land Acknowledgement Subcommittee.