About

I am a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Biomathematics Graduate Program at North Carolina State University, advised by Drs. Alun Lloyd and Fred Gould. I am a Genetics and Genomics Scholar, and a NSF Graduate Research Fellow. I received a B.S. in Mathematics with highest honors from the University of Maine in 2020 (my undergraduate thesis can be found here). After a brief period studying civil engineering, I pursued a degree in mathematics after my REU experience at the Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute at Arizona State University.

This website is a mishmash of some of the things I've been up to, including past and current projects, presentations, etc. I will also occasionally make a blog post every so often about some of the things I find interesting. These topics tend to be more general than those I pursue in my research. The webpages on this site may look a little funky if you have an AdBlocker enabled.

Research Interests

My research interests are in the spread and control of organisms, including pathogens and pests. My work is highly interdisciplinary and spans many subjects. Throughout my Ph.D., my research was primarily on methods of genetic biocontrol, specifically gene drives. Gene drives are any natural or artificial mechanism of spreading a gene into a target population. These genes can affect desirable changes, such as creating malaria-resistant mosquitoes, or impose a fitness cost capable of suppressing or eradicating a target population. However, this technology is still in its infancy and development relies on mathematical and computational models to understand how it will behave in the wild.

I had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Max Scott to model the potential of genetic biocontrol strategies in the invasive spotted wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii). Following this experience, I became more interested in the biology of pest control. Beginning in the summer of 2023, I worked with Dr. Michael Reiskind on socioeconomic predictors of the prevalence of insecticide resistance in suburban populations of the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus. Our work is ongoing and heavily relies on spatial statistical models to unravel patterns in insecticide resistance.