I graduated from the  University of Tennessee with a B.S. in biological sciences: plant biology, and an M.S. in ecology and evolutionary biology. Currently, I am working jointly at the University of Tennessee with Joe Bailey and at ORNL with Dave Weston to investigate genetic and environmental factors underlying an ecologically relevant plant-microbe symbiosis. This plant-microbe symbiosis has a major influence on carbon and nitrogen cycling in peatland ecosystems.