Experience

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  Biome Makers Inc.

  • Agroecology Scientist

    • Feb 2023 - Present

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  Apeel

  • United States
  • Biotechnology Research
  • 300 - 400 Employee

  • Scientist I

    • Jun 2022 - Nov 2022

    I worked within new product introduction to ensure products are capable to go live into the market. I designed and executed experiments, conducted research, and worked closely with our customers and partners to ensure we delivered our highest performing products.

  • Process Engineer

    • Dec 2021 - Jun 2022

    As the process engineer for the Seville area, I worked in conjunction with our Apeel and Iberhanse-Naturgreen teams (partnering with the WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature) in order to ensure that our fruit (mandarins and oranges) was reaching the highest product performance possible. I conducted formulation optimization efforts in order to be able to save energy in our treatment process while also maintaining peak product performance and quality. I was responsible for each part of our treatment procedure performing at the highest level possible.

  • Product Quality Engineer

    • Nov 2020 - Nov 2021

    As the Product Quality Engineer for the South Texas/Northern Mexico region, I was responsible for 4 lime sites and 2 avocado sites. I trained and indirectly managed approximately 30 Technical Field Specialists in their data collection and analysis of our fruit as well as on produce line protocol for treatment procedure. I created our produce quality data collection criteria as the lead for the lime category and regularly worked with our software team to streamline data collection of both process parameters and fruit quality. I designed and executed experiments to improve product performance and regularly reported on produce quality with each of our 6 partner sites and to our organization. I made suggestions for capital improvements and worked on continuous improvement initiatives to achieve and maintain produce quality, such as formulation adjustments or changes in operating parameters. I commissioned 4 new treatment lines for commercial production, for both limes and avocados.

  • Technical Field Specialist

    • Aug 2020 - Nov 2020

    In this role I was responsible for mixing the Apeel product for produce application, performing preventative maintenance and repairs as well as cleaning the equipment lines per FDA regulations, and managing customer relations to create strong and positive partnerships. I was assigned to the SiCar Farms packhouse which works with limes. Technical field specialists are also responsible for understanding, controlling, and troubleshooting key process variables that impact produce quality. This comes in hand with initiating and implementing modifications in a commitment to continuous improvement, like writing new SOPs. I also coordinated various tests for produce quality data collection as well as regularly analyzed product performance at our on-site lab in order to collect data to inform line process conditions.

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  The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

  • Edinburg, Texas

  • Agroecology Lab Researcher

    • Aug 2018 - Aug 2020
    • Edinburg, Texas

    Through receiving an USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Fellowship (2018) and National Science Foundation S-Stem Grant (2020), I was able to participate in the Agriculture, Environment, and Sustainability Sciences Masters program at UTRGV. I was a member of the Agroecology lab and my thesis dissertation was titled, “Predicting Patterns of Heavy Metal Contamination in Rio Grande Valley Agricultural Soils”. I designed a research study to examine heavy metal content of Rio Grande Valley soil and executed through field work, in house chemical laboratory procedures, and data analyses in R and GIS. I managed three research assistants in sampling and research methods of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-Q-MS), atomic absorption spectrometry (AA-S), and portable x-ray fluorescence (pXRF). I compared these three methods of soil analysis for accuracy and efficacy as well as accessibility. I also ran multi-variate correlations comparing ICP-Q-MS data with soil type, soil location, and proximity to roads.

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  Texas Plant and Soil Lab

  • Edinburg, TX

  • Lab Technician

    • Apr 2019 - Aug 2019
    • Edinburg, TX

    As a lab technician I executed daily soil, water, fertilizer, compost and plant analyses such as organic matter, heavy metals, micronutrients, ammonia, percent nitrogen, phosphates, and nitrates. I processed samples through Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS), ICP-OES, and the Spectrometer. I became proficient in spectroscopy analysis and Qtegra and Gen5 softwares.

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  Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Advancement (SARA)

  • Edinburg, Texas

  • Cooperative Development Associate

    • Aug 2018 - Aug 2019
    • Edinburg, Texas

    In this role I served as the lead of the finance committee of a starting agricultural cooperative, the Frontera Farmer's Coalition. I helped to write the by-laws for the group and was part of the original steering committee that assisted in the formation of the cooperative. I advised cooperative members on strategic decisions, such as hiring an employee, and facilitated the official legal registration of the cooperative. I created budgets, paid each farmer, managed the bank account, and provided financial supervision on pricing of produce and other products. I managed complex relationships within the cooperative through conflict resolutions and building and facilitating strong personal relationships. I also led workshops in Colonias on how to start an agricultural business and practice food safety measures, according to the FSMA. All workshops were led in Spanish.

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  UT Austin Department of Mathematics

  • Austin, Texas, United States

  • Undergraduate Mathematics and Sustainability Researcher

    • Aug 2015 - Aug 2018
    • Austin, Texas, United States

    Throughout my undergraduate research career at UT Austin, I worked under the supervision of Bill Wolesensky (Mathematics) on two distinct projects. The first involved growing sorghum and corn in equal growing conditions in order to compare water usage and yield. We found that sorghum is much more drought resistant and with a slow transition to sorghum in place of corn we will be better equipped for a climate change challenged world. We published our work in the Future of Food journal. The second project I led involved growing produce on a closed public landfill managed jointly by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the City of Austin. We planted the produce, monitored it daily and collected measurements before sending it for heavy metal testing. I managed 4 research assistants for this project and a paper is in progress. In 2018, this work received an award from the General Mills Feeding Better Futures Competition. It was also selected to be presented for the Economics Scholars Program at the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and the UT Libraries System Lecturer Series. I was able to conduct both of these projects after being awarded a series of undergraduate research fellowships from the University of Texas at Austin.

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  Foundation Communities

  • Austin, Texas Area

  • Health Champion

    • Jan 2017 - May 2018
    • Austin, Texas Area

    In my role as a Health Champion for Foundation Communities, I worked as a live Arabic and Spanish translator in our food distributions. I translated approximately 150 legal and informative documents to Arabic/Spanish for immigrant populations, assisted approximately 250 families with applying to SNAP and ICT health insurance, and directed around 100 Keep Austin Fed distributions and food pantries in our resident populations. I loved the impact I was able to have in this role.