I graduated from UMass in 1997, with a degree in animal science. I started working for Advanced Cell Technology that May. I continued working for ACT or their sister company Cyagra for the next five years. Cyagra is a production cattle cloning company, we would make cloned cattle for producers. I was a member of one of the most sophisticated nuclear transfer teams. While at Cyagra I began working on a PhD, that I hope to continue and finish. I learned a lot working with the scientists and staff at both ACT and Cyagra. However, working in a company just did not fulfill my dream of working with animals. I see teaching as a perfect way to give something back to a school that is very dear to me. I have a unique perspective in that I was a student here and I know what I wish would have been available to me then. I hope that I will be in a position to offer these things to the students here, now. I believe that you get out what you put in. I put a lot of energy and thought into my classes and I hope that the students will feel my enthusiasm for the subject and take the knowledge with them for the rest of their time here and wherever they go. This is a great department and I am proud to be part of it.