I have always loved the outdoors and the natural sciences, but my current zeal for entomology was rather accidental. As a child, I was quite scared of insects, and this fear lingered even as I learned more about their ecosystem importance. It wasn't until halfway through my undergrad that my fear began to diminish. I had accepted a position in Dr. Seth Bybee's lab to assist in an Odonata color vision project. Looking back, dragonflies were my gateway bug (colloquial use of bug). With the guidance of my advisors, I quickly transitioned from dragonflies to beetles as my insects of interest, and entomology became a vision for my future.

Following my undergrad research on cycad-associated Erotylidae and a brief foray into mosquitos, I entered the weevil world with Dr. Bruno de Medeiros at the Field Museum. In my dissertation research, I study the diversity and evolution of Neotropical palm flower weevils. I focus mainly on the tribe Derelomini, as well as some palm flower-associated Baridinae genera. My current project compares weevil and host palm evolution in the light of brood-site interaction type. I'm also examining palm flower weevil host breadth using species delimitation methods. My weevil knowledge has been greatly enhanced by the Weevil Course and Roundup held in summer of 2025!

I am also passionate about data digitization and organization, especially in the age of advancing technologies and rapid data generation. I intend to use digital tools in my study of weevils to make generated data more usable and accessible. Ontologies are one such tool that can place valuable phenotypic information from taxonomic descriptions onto the digital map. Part of my research focuses on using LLMs in combination with ontologies to make palm flower weevil descriptions machine-readable for use in future evolutionary studies. All of this work is carried out with assistance from many advisors and colleagues, and I am excited to put our collective knowledge to use in weevil research!