She received her BS in Genetics and PhD in Plant Breeding and Plant Genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and did her post-doc at Michigan State University. Her research involves the integration of big data including high throughput genome and transcriptome sequencing, high throughput phenotyping, and extensive environmental measurements with the end goal of improving corn as a crop plant. She and her team have projects in the lab examining the maize pan genome including dissecting natural mechanisms that create genome content variation and the impacts on phenotypic variation. She’s also interested in understanding the interaction of genotype and environment and the impact on plant performance and elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying heterosis in maize.