Having lived in all four “corner states” before the age of 10, I grew up staring at the stars from big mountains and high deserts.  I then moved to California to study physics at a tiny college in Pasadena and thought my knack for building things would eventually land me a gig building telescopes. Instead, seeing the stars in LA proved problematic and, having a short attention span, I eventually forgot they existed. Upon graduation I moved north to study biophysics at UCSF. In San Francisco, I discovered a love of bikes (with gears to climb up the hills!), good coffee, burritos, and microscopes - the latter with the help of my advisor, Mats Gustafsson. Mats eventually made his way here to Janelia, and I followed. Now, while I don’t ride my bike as often as I’d like and I sometimes daydream about starting a SF-style taqueria in DC, I have adjusted to life in the East: I find myself walking faster, following politics, and enjoying the company of East Coast hippies.  I’m looking forward to graduating and applying the techniques I’ve learned to study problems of public health in Boston and South Africa.  There, I will study tuberculosis and cuddle baby lions.