My name is Abigail Jarrett, but you can call me Abby. I am a PhD candidate at the University of Nevada, Reno, in the Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Program (EECB). My advisors are Drs. Lora Richards and Lee Dyer in UNR’s Biology Department, and I have been a teaching assistant for Microbiology lab (BIOL 251) every Fall and Spring semester since I started graduate school in August 2022. I am originally from Central Pennsylvania and moved to Reno to pursue a graduate degree studying plants, with the larger goal of becoming a researcher at a university or botanic garden after completing my PhD and post-doctoral studies. I love teaching higher education STEM courses and am passionate about connecting complex scientific topics with everyday life.