I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, in the suburbs of Seattle, WA. I originally moved out to Colorado to compete as a springboard diver on the Colorado State University Women's Swim & Dive team. Following a few too many injuries I decided to transfer back home to the University of Washington where I graduated with a degree in Biochemistry. While in Seattle I worked in the Bedalov Lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute studying the epigenetic regulation of replication timing at heterochromatic rDNA arrays in yeast. I am very happy to be back in Colorado to pursue my PhD, and excited to continue to study the mechanisms by which the chromatin landscape regulates nuclear and cellular functions. In the Arnoult lab I will be focused on determining the role of heterochromatin in telomeric functions, including entry into replicative senescence. Outside of the lab you can find me stuck in I-70 traffic, either trying to get to the slopes or to a body of water to float on.