I was born and raised in Bakersfield, CA. I completed my undergraduate degree at Fresno State, with a BS in Animal Science-Dairy. I am getting my master's here at VT under Dr. Corl, studying lactation and physiology. My research will be looking at extending lactation persistency, by focusing on stressors that may affect it. I will look specifically at how different milking frequencies, and how incomplete milking effects the shedding of mammary epithelium cells into milk.