My interest in the physical sciences started when I was a student at a community college in California. What first started as a necessary ‘general education’ course in chemistry soon became a personal fascination and career goal. When I transferred to U.C. Davis to earn my bachelor’s degree, I immediately started working in a university biochemistry lab that studies secondary metabolites in plants through biochemical and genetics methods. Fortunately for me, the PI of the lab gave a lot of responsibility and freedom in the lab to undergraduates like myself, which sparked my desire to continue science research at the graduate level. After graduating UC Davis, I started working in the lab or Dr. Brian Crane at Cornell University as a graduate student and was introduced to the world of structural biology. My projects here specifically focused on studying the structure and function of proteins involved in bacterial chemotaxis, primarily through crystallography. Now, in Dr. Ariane’s Briegel’s lab, I am continuing to study bacterial chemotaxis pathways through electron microscopy techniques. As a recipient of the Leading Fellowship for international post-docs, I get the privilege of working in a collaborative environment in a fantastic lab and beautiful country!