Meet the many integral members of the department and learn about their horticultural career journey in our new series, This is my Hort-Story!
Current job title: Researcher 2
Current lab/team: Shannon Lab - Potato breeding
How long you’ve worked in the Department of Horticultural Science: 3 years as an undergraduate student worker, 2 years as a full-time researcher
Pronouns: she/her
The thing that brought me to a career in horticulture was…
My love for plants developed during my first job working on a flower farm at age 14 in Illinois. I was inspired by all of the beautiful florals, which influenced me to start drawing them. After graduating high school, I pursued an associate’s degree in art. At the time I thought I wanted to be an artist and create scientific illustrations for textbooks. I soon discovered that a science background was preferred to an art background, so I applied to the Plant Science undergraduate program and they let me in! It wasn’t long before I realized that maybe growing plants was better than drawing them!
The most enjoyable/rewarding part of my work is…
There’s so much variety in my day to day responsibilities. I get to spend time in the lab doing tissue culture, and then I get to spend time out in the field, or work in the greenhouse. I also really love my boss, my coworkers, and the work I do. It makes me really happy that I have a job that I’m excited to go to every day.
The most unusual job I’ve had is…
I think growing potatoes…but in the Department of Horticultural Science, it’s normal! Outside of the University, friends and family are usually confused or shocked when I tell them about my job and what my team is working on. I like to tell them, “I potato!”
My favorite time of year on campus is…
Spring – I like seeing all the spring flowering bulbs coming up in the learning garden and seeing all of the plants coming alive after winter. Spring is also our least busy time of year since we aren’t out in the field harvesting potatoes for evaluation (a very labor intensive process).
People may be surprised to know that…
I was a professional snowboarder before deciding to go to college. At 15, I was an Olympic hopeful specializing in halfpipe. After a couple surgeries on my foot, I switched to handrails. These days I work seasonally at Highland Hills to get my winter sports fix!