Education

I attended the University of Alabama from 2019 to 2023, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Biology and a minor in Blount/Liberal Arts.

I was part of the Blount Scholars Program, as well as vice president of the Outdoor Adventures Club and a member of the General Art Club.

In the Spring of 2022 I studied abroad at Maynooth University in Ireland.

I am currently pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Georgia. I am working in the lab of Dr. Dario Chavez under the umbrella of the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics.

Labs

During my time at UA I was a member of two labs; I worked with Dr. McKain studying invasive Johnson grass and with Dr. Benstead investigating freshwater macro invertebrate ecology.

In the McKain lab, I worked with a team of graduate and undergraduate students to collect samples, isolate DNA, and construct genetic libraries with the goal of understanding the mode of invasion of Johnson grass in the southeastern United States. A fellow undergraduate and I presented this poster at UA’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities conference.

In the Benstead lab, I worked with a PhD student to sort through freshwater stream samples and isolate macro invertebrates. The goal of the project was to determine the effect of stream warming on invertebrate populations and, by extension, freshwater ecosystems as a whole.

In the Chavez lab, I am currently developing KASP markers to assist in evaluating and utilizing new sources of peach germplasm.

Peaches, Prunus persica, were originally domesticated in China thousands of years ago. The process of domestication created trees with superior fruit, at the cost of genetic diversity. While peaches have since been carried across the world, China remains the cradle of P. persica diversity, and therefore a source of novel traits and possible disease resistance. Adding Chinese peaches to our germplasm collection would strengthen US peach production, but it is difficult for scientists to travel to China to collect samples. Dr. Chavez believes that the next best source may be Australia, due to a gold rush in the 1800s which brought Chinese workers, who themselves carried seeds to this new country. I will develop KASP markers of the peach genome, which will be used to create a family tree of peach accessions. From these relationships, we will be able to discern how similar the Australian peaches are to their Chinese predecessors.

--- title: "Education" format: html editor: visual --- ::: column-margin ![](Images_files%5Cneat%20hair1024_1.jpg){width="145"} ::: I attended the University of Alabama from 2019 to 2023, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Biology and a minor in Blount/Liberal Arts. I was part of the [Blount Scholars Program](https://blount.as.ua.edu/), as well as vice president of the Outdoor Adventures Club and a member of the General Art Club. In the Spring of 2022 I studied abroad at [Maynooth University](https://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/) in Ireland. I am currently pursuing a master's degree at the University of Georgia. I am working in the lab of Dr. Dario Chavez under the umbrella of the Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics. ### Labs During my time at UA I was a member of two labs; I worked with Dr. McKain studying invasive Johnson grass and with Dr. Benstead investigating freshwater macro invertebrate ecology. **In the McKain lab**, I worked with a team of graduate and undergraduate students to collect samples, isolate DNA, and construct genetic libraries with the goal of understanding the mode of invasion of Johnson grass in the southeastern United States. A fellow undergraduate and I presented [this poster](Images_files\Busby_McCann_Botany2021_final.pdf) at UA's Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities conference. **In the Benstead lab**, I worked with a PhD student to sort through freshwater stream samples and isolate macro invertebrates. The goal of the project was to determine the effect of stream warming on invertebrate populations and, by extension, freshwater ecosystems as a whole. **In the Chavez lab**, I am currently developing KASP markers to assist in evaluating and utilizing new sources of peach germplasm. Peaches, *Prunus persica*, were originally domesticated in China thousands of years ago. The process of domestication created trees with superior fruit, at the cost of genetic diversity. While peaches have since been carried across the world, China remains the cradle of *P. persica* diversity, and therefore a source of novel traits and possible disease resistance. Adding Chinese peaches to our germplasm collection would strengthen US peach production, but it is difficult for scientists to travel to China to collect samples. Dr. Chavez believes that the next best source may be Australia, due to a gold rush in the 1800s which brought Chinese workers, who themselves carried seeds to this new country. I will develop KASP markers of the peach genome, which will be used to create a family tree of peach accessions. From these relationships, we will be able to discern how similar the Australian peaches are to their Chinese predecessors.