Trained as a neuroscientist, I left the lab in 2012 to pursue a career in science communication. Following the completion of the Science Communication Program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, I moved to Bethesda, Maryland, to work at the National Institutes of Health, where I wrote about cancer, neuroscience, genetics, and cell biology. Along the way, I've published hundreds of stories about science, health, and technology for the San Jose Mercury News, Nature, The Scientist, and two dozen other outlets. I am now Editorial Director for the College of Engineering at Oregon State University.