I was born and raised in Minersville, PA, a small town in the coal region of PA. I come from a small and very close family. Coming from a small town and wanting to remain close to home, I decided to attend a Kutztown University to pursue a degree in Biology. While at Kutztown I was very active in the school, being a member of the Cross County and Track & Field teams, a Science Ambassador, and a lab monitor for our biological digital imaging lab. While at Kutztown, I had an opportunity to intern at a clinical lab in the microbiology department. That experience helped solidify my choice that microbiology was the field of study I wanted to pursue. It also made me realize that a graduate degree was something that would help me achieve my future goals. I wanted to stay in PA for graduate school and upon visiting Drexel I knew that the warm atmosphere and friendly student body was something I wanted to be a part of. This summer I completed an internship at Merck & Co, Inc. working on the characterization of Breast Cancer Resistance Protein (BCRP). Working at Merck taught me valuable techniques and provided me with more experience in designing research projects. After receiving my degree, I would like to return to the industrial side of microbiology but eventually I would like to return to the academic setting teaching undergraduate or graduate students in a research based university.