About Me

Hello!

My name is Avery; I’m 21 years old and currently a student at The Ohio State University. I’m passionate about exploration, innovation, and using science to improve the lives of everyone. Currently, I am completing a senior research thesis in the Cooperstone Lab and taking both science and philosophy courses. I plan to graduate in December of 2022, after which I’m hoping to begin a PhD. In between, I look forward to spending roughly eight months reading, resting, and perhaps farming around the country (or maybe world). For fun, I love reading, running, backpacking, exploring local coffee shops, spending quality time with friends, and trying new things.

So that’s a glimpse of where I’m going, but I’d also like to give some context of where I’m coming from. I have a home base in Ohio, although my family moved around quite a lot when I was younger. Between 2010 and 2014, we lived in Northeast Ohio, New Jersey, and Beijiing, then back to Ohio. The two years we were in Beijing, during which I was attending middle school, were highly formative for me, inspiring a sense of adventure and appreciation for cultural exchange. Returning to Ohio brought its own revelations; once again having clean air and water impressed upon me the importance of protecting our environment. I spent more and more time outside and fell deeply in love with the mystery and intricacy of the natural world. In high school, I enjoyed most subjects but eventually found myself taking mostly STEM and English classes. I began completing summer internships in genetics and cancer labs; however when it came time to choose a major for college, I selected a B.S. in Sustainable Plant Systems with a concentration in Plant Biosciences.

In my view, agriculture is a wildly exciting field. On one hand, the current state is terrifying—it is the largest contributor to emissions and has been at the heart of ecological disasters such as the dust bowl and the algal blooms currently disrupting our Great Lakes. While this track record is daunting, people must eat; therefore, we must innovate. Between biotechnology, new understandings of microbiomes, growing interest in cellular agriculture and alternative protein, and ambitious sustainability goals, agriculture is ripe for revolution. I have been fortunate to have gained hands-on experiences in many of these areas already. As someone who is energized by interdisciplinary work, immediate applications, and a need to drive positive change, I feel that I am in exactly the right place; I live at the intersection of science, engineering, futurism, entrepreneurship, and philosophy.

Although I mentioned I began university on track for a degree in Plant Science, I also added a B.A. in Philosophy shortly after my freshman year. Some see this as strange, but I feel that there is a very natural crossover between science and philosophy. Because science in our culture is done by asking questions, making observations, and drafting hypotheses, I think it is essential to interrogate how we decide which questions to ask. Additionally, our era is certainly one of distrust and disconnect between scientists, politicians, and the public. Training in Philosophy heavily emphasizes crafting sound arguments, putting the truth before ego, and learning to communicate novel ideas. I can’t deny that, alongside those more immediately practical reasons, I also simply have a passion for toying with rich ideas and I love that I’m able to take classes which stimulate conversations for months and years to come.

Thank you for taking a bit of time to read this page and hopefully get a sense of what inspires me; I hope something here excites you, too! There is of course much left unsaid here, and I’d love to continue the conversation and learn about you as well. If you’re involved in synthetic biology, biomimicry, philosophy, ecology, biotech entrepreneurship, sustainability, excited about something listed on my other pages, or simply want to get connected, I invite you to be in touch!