My research first centered on this question:

Can we engineer a solution to plastic pollution?

My focus: mealworms. I set out to understand how mealworms—the larval form of a beetle—can eat and fully degrade traditional plastics, in a matter of hours - not centuries. I discovered that the bacteria in their gut built systems to grow plastic degrading bacteria!

This process, called enzymatic biodegradation, is similar to composting where naturally occurring bacteria break down waste, turning it into natural organic matter.

While this topic was fascinating, and remains an active area of research, I came to realize we were never going to move the needle on the plastic crisis with research or engineering alone: we need systemic policy change.

After completing my PhD, I transitioned my focus to work on science policy.