About

I'm the director of innovation partnerships at the N.C. Plant Sciences Initiative at NC State. My job is to build the research and business partnerships that move the work forward, and to help faculty and graduate students turn their science into startups and real commercial products.

I grew up in Syracuse, New York, and studied biotechnology and environmental and forest biology at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry before heading south. I came to NC State for my Ph.D. in plant pathology, where I spent a few years getting to know the population biology of mummy berry disease on blueberries better than I ever expected to.

From there I worked in early R&D at Bayer and BASF, leading a multidisciplinary research program, and then took on leadership roles at two local biotech startups, Tiamat Sciences and Biomason. Working both the bench and the business side is what pulled me toward partnership building: I know what a promising result looks like, and I know how easily one stalls on the way to becoming something real.

Off the clock, you'll usually find me with my family — at the pottery wheel, cooking something, on a pickleball court, or planning where we're traveling next.