Small-town Girl in a Big World

Hey everyone!  I’m Mandy, a Missouri farm girl transplanted to the Washington D.C. metro area and a research scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agriculture Research Service.  I am excited and thankful for the opportunity to blog for Bio Careers about my work in agriculture.

The summer after earning my Bachelor’s degree in Plant Science from the University of Missouri, I packed up and left the family farm for graduate school at the University of Maryland, Department of Cell Biology & Molecular Genetics.  Never before had I taken a cell biology or a genetics class, and I knew only two things going into that journey:  the future was filled with uncertainty and also, my nearest neighbors would be living closer than an 80-acre corn field away.  Now, almost a decade later, I enjoy using my PhD in Molecular Biology to study agriculture-based problems, all while sipping a grande mocha from Starbucks—a treat that I would not find on the farm. And my nearest neighbors, well, they share a wall with me.

Over the next few postings, I would like to give you a glimpse into how I use my molecular biology skill set to study agricultural problems, specifically a disease that poses a formidable threat to the world soybean crop, and what led me away from academia to government.  I would also like to share a few science communication tips that I have picked up along the way.  (Honestly, it can take effort to help people get excited about the DNA of soybean plants, so effective communication tends to be an integral part of my job).

I have learned that effective communication is necessary for presentations to the general public through my AAAS fellowship experience with Scientific American magazine and through government outreach activities.  And, I’m in the midst of learning just how much successful collaborations rely on clear communication, especially as scientists continue to use interdisciplinary approaches in order to solve complex problems.    

Thanks for taking your time to read this blog.  I hope we “meet” again soon.