I got my Master’s from Morehead State University in 2015 where I fell in love with parasitology. I then went on to a PhD at Rutgers University in Ecology and Evolution studying parasites in freshwater fish. I am particularly interested in relationships within the host organisms, which include parasites and other symbiotes (commensals and mutualists). Further, I want to investigate how those relationships, and interactions with the host and environment, affect reproductive output and growth of parasite infrapopulation and infracommunities. I enjoyed the teaching and mentoring aspect of my Ph.D., I worked with some fantastic undergraduate students as research assistants and mentored one for her undergraduate thesis (people). Photos by