I am a community ecologist interested in how and why species interact across natural and agricultural landscapes. I am particularly interested in how environmental context and species traits influence the structure, strength, and outcome of species interactions. I use plants, herbivorous insects, and the organisms that consume them (predatory insects, parasitoid wasps & flies, and birds) to address these questions. My projects are driven by a love for natural history.

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Dr. William Wetzel (Michigan State University), where I coordinate a global study of variability in plant-herbivore interactions (The Herbivory Variability Network). This project explores how herbivory differs across plant species and around the globe, with a particular focus on the distribution (or skew) of plant damage within plant populations and plant individuals.

My other research focus examines how traits vary among tissues of individual plants, and how domestication selection has shaped this critical but often overlooked aspect of the plant phenotype.

When I am not science-ing I enjoy walking with my dog, looking for caterpillars, and experimenting with bread recipes.