I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and earned a BS in Chemistry from Pacific University and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Oregon Health and Science University. My graduate work focused on metalloprotein spectroscopy with Dr. Pierre Moënne-Loccoz, specializing in resonance Raman and EPR spectrosopy of heme proteins. I then spent three years as a postdoc with Dr. Carrie Wilmot at the University of Minnesota learning X-ray crystallography. My independent career began at New Mexico State University in 2013. My lab has focused on structure/function studies of proteins involved in bacterial zinc homeostasis and environmental sensing.