I am a PhD student interested in bacterial phytoplankton relationships; how they interact both with each other and their environment. I received my BS in Biology from James Madison University in 2019 with a concentration in microbiology. I received my MS in Biology from James Madison University in 2021. My thesis research focused on growth-promoting heterotrophic bacteria within the phycosphere of a freshwater cyanobacteria, Microcystis aeruginosa. As a part of this work, I also used 16S sequencing in order to study bacterial community structure.