Resume

• 2012

  Master of Science (M.S.)

  Biology - Computational Biology & Bioinformatics

  University of Arkansas

  Programming for Biologists

  Molecular Genetics

  Advanced/Special Topics - High Performance Cluster Computing

  Genetic Mapping

• 2008

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.)

  Chemistry Minor\nHonors Guild\nMagna Cum Laude

  Biology

  Taylor University

• Unix

  PCR

  Genetics

  Microsoft Excel

  Teaching

  Biochemistry

  Phylogenetics

  Bioinformatics

  Genomics

  Microsoft Office

  Laboratory

  Evolutionary Biology

  Biology

  Public Speaking

  Computational Biology

  Chemistry

  Biotechnology

  Research

  Science

  Lecturing

  Improving insect control protein activity for GM crops: A case study demonstrating that increased target insect potency can be achieved without impacting mammalian safety

  Improving insect control protein activity for GM crops: A case study demonstrating that increased target insect potency can be achieved without impacting mammalian safety

  Safety assessment of dicamba mono-oxygenases that confer dicamba tolerance to various crops

  The sequence

  structural

  and functional diversity within a protein family and implications for specificity and safety: The case for ETX_MTX2 insecticidal proteins

  Safety of the Bacillus thuringiensis-derived Cry1A. 105 protein: Evidence that domain exchange preserves mode of action and safety

  Corn rootworm-active RNA DvSnf7: repeat dose oral toxicology assessment in support of human and mammalian safety

  Transcriptomic insights into the life history of bolidophytes

  the sister lineage to diatoms

  Colton

  Kessenich

  University of Arkansas

  Bayer Crop Science

  Monsanto Company

  Fayetteville

  Arkansas Area

  Applied experimental and computational approaches in the analysis of the genomics of early diverging diatoms and their sister taxa. Utilized HPC computing to process high throughput genomic data to answer and solve questions concerning large-scale biological change and adaptation.

  Graduate Researcher

  University of Arkansas

  Greater St. Louis Area

  Led the transition of all Bayer Regulatory Bioinformatics workflows and data to Amazon Web Services (AWS)

  including provisioning of servers

  providing user training

  and transitioning and testing of custom software and databases.\n\nProviding support and ad-hoc experiments for internal groups

  and national and international governing bodies to demonstrate effectiveness of evolving technologies with an emphasis on data analysis

  data integrity

  data stewardship

  bioinformatics

  and compute methods which directly influence regulatory practices.

  Senior Bioinformatics Scientist

  Bayer Crop Science

  Fayetteville

  Arkansas Area

  Prepared weekly lesson plans and lectures for up to 90 undergraduate students each semester. Provided mentoring and tutoring to students as needed

  identifying areas of development and creating actionable plans for improvement.

  Course Instructor

  University of Arkansas

  Greater St. Louis Area

  Supported the Monsanto Regulatory Organization through the analysis of biotech products. \nConsulted on pipelines

  analyses

  methods

  and database architecture for the Monsanto Regulatory pipeline.

  Biologist III (via Aerotek Sceintific)

  Monsanto Company (via Aerotek Scientific)

  Greater St. Louis Area

  Continuing to lead

  develop

  and realize high throughput

  distributed compute and data analytic solutions for the current Regulatory Organization of the Bayer U.S. Crop Science division upon its acquisition of Monsanto Company.

  Bioinformatics Scientist

  Bayer Crop Science

  Assessed the validity of joint World Health Organization & Food and Agriculture Organization (WHO/FAO) defined CODEX standards for the bioinformatic testing of allergens by testing for internal-consistency within gene clusters to generate and provide insight and data-driven thresholds for the assessment of allergenicity.

  Regulatory Bioinformatics Intern

  Greater St. Louis Area

  Monsanto Company

  Greater St. Louis Area

  Leading

  developing

  and realizing solutions for the Monsanto Regulatory Organization by designing

  implementing

  and deploying high throughput data analytic

  NGS

  and distributed computing pipelines and solutions on both local and cloud infrastructures.

  Bioinformatics Scientist

  Monsanto Company

  Spanish

  Polish

  Doctoral Academy Fellowship

  A fellowship awarded to approximately 40 graduate students each year upon the recommendation of the departmental chair and the approval of the academic and graduate deans.

  University of Arkansas

  Taylor University SRTP Grant