About me
I founded CDLA around 2010 and the company began work with a
small CNC machine that was ordered as a kit, and over the years
I found myself enjoying working in the shop more and more. As
the projects grew in scope and size, so did my interest in
developing skills that could be put to use on more advanced
projects. The first big addition was a rather small (and
admittedly not great) 3D printer, but this served as a gateway
for developing my CAD/CAM skills and working on larger and more
complex projects like the "spoolerator". Projects like this one
combined CNC milling, 3D printing, custom one-off PCBs, and
supporting code, be it C for microcontrollers or bash and python
for further system integration. My other life-long passion is plant science which spurred me to get a bachelors of science in horticulture from UCONN. Throughout my college career I would regularly come back home to work in the shop on weekends to fulfill orders I would receive through Etsy. I continued to pursue my love of horticulture, which led me to work at the UCONN Marine Biotech lab in Stamford CT to gain lab experience which would prove invaluable when applying to Ph.D. programs.
I was accepted to the University of New Hampshire in 2017 and I am currently a genetics Ph.D. candidate working in the Davis lab. My research focuses on crop development and improvement, specifically the de novo domestication of Chenopodium berlandieri and the establishment of C. ficifolium as a model species for this system. C. berlandieri and C. ficifolium are both relatives of quinoa, a crop well known for its high nutritional value and ability to withstand harsh environmental conditions. Quinoa, however, is not native to Northern New England, and as such has not co-evolved with several native pathogens and furthermore is not particularly well suited to our unique climate. Thus, our focus turned towards the domestication of C. berlandieri guided by the domestication-related traits present in quinoa. Our lab is currently conducting the foundational research required to harness both the domestication-related traits of quinoa and the natural adaptations of C. berlandieri to produce a crop that can be grown locally which may help combat food insecurity in the face of anthropogenic climate change.