TAMU

I enjoyed my time at Texas A&M, and continue to utilize skills developed there. I transferred into Texas A&M in 2009 with 96 credit hours I had earned while working full time. I worked on various projects during my undergraduate career, and was coauthored on a research publication. I graduated in 2011 and took a position in the Department of Quantitative Genetics as a research assistant. In this role I was responsible for the maintenance and development of 10,000 unique genetic lines. I developed software to track and store genetic line information, and fine-tuned a six month process down to 5 days. I called the program StockRecord. Using the extra time from the success of SockRecord, I began development of a closed environment systematic process resulting in the creation of a population of 1000s of diploperenis backcrosses. This unique genetic population may hold clues to perennialism in corn and become a parent source for a high yielding perennial corn in the future. I’m proud of my time at A&M and continue to utilize lessons learned there in real world applications today.

Department of Quantitative Genetics

Assist in design and implementation of Maize Breeding Program under direction of project lead • Assist in planting, monitoring test sites, collecting agronomic data, and harvesting test sites • Field and worker management • Responsible for Operation and Maintenance of Agricultural equipment • Development of database software for nursery and trials (Excel, VBA, Windows drivers, ActiveX) • Setup and operation of various data acquisition hardware/software including: o Harvest Master coupled with John Deer combine o NIR (near infrared spectroscopy) using ThermoScientific hardware o Serial communication and implementation • Data analysis (JMP, SAS, R, TQ Analysis)
Key Results: Gained experience in plant breeding methodologies, and helped develop new techniques for hybrid and perennial crossing in Maize

Atmospheric Sciences Department

Acting in my first “consultancy” role, I operated as a liaison between the Department of Soil and Crop Science and the Atmospheric Science Department during a research study comparing Anthropogenic and Biogenic Carbon Dioxide Fluxes in Urban Houston. My role was to isolate and measure for soil respiration, and consult on soil related observations. The results can be found here in the Dec 2011 edition of American Geophysical Union.