Amanda is originally from Baltimore, MD and developed a passion for local food and agriculture while visiting and working at farmers markets in Baltimore City. She completed her B.A. in Biology and Public Policy and St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2016, then started working in Washington, DC at a sustainable agriculture focused non-profit, Center for Food Safety. In DC she found herself missing science research and left to complete her M.S. in Plant Pathology at The Pennsylvania State University where she researched the bacterial pathogens causing blackleg and soft rot on potatoes under the guidance of Drs. Carolee Bull and Beth Gugino. She is now at NC State enthusiastically pursuing her Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and developing tools to detect Phytophthora ramorum on nursery crops under the guidance of Dr. Jean Ristaino. She hopes to use these tools and further sequencing work to build a public database for studying and monitoring the movement and evolution of P. ramorum. She is an AgBioFEWS fellow in the Genetic Engineering and Society Center on campus and enjoys practicing yoga in her free time.