My relationship with God is the motivation for all I do.  I love to talk about the marriage of science and Christianity.  It is my firm belief that God didn't make the Bible a scientific text because He didn't need to do so.  He made us the only species with the cognitive ability to interpret His creation on our own. Every piece of scientific data is His signature.  Conducting science is a form of worship.  

In my free time, I enjoy volunteering at my children's schools in South Tulsa, OK and attending Life Church South Tulsa.  I have my private pilot's license, but the aforementioned work has kept me grounded.  I train in masters boxing, and I also love kickboxing, Pilates, yoga, and weight lifting.  

I have a serious passion for cake with thick buttercream frosting, fighter jets, elephants, multi-colored toe nails, reading about the Titanic, organizing our house, fried tofu, and Jesus, in no particular order. 

I am a devout Jesus follower, an enthusiastic scientist, a lively professor, and a devoted wife and mother of four.  My entire life can be wrapped up in those four things in the most perfectly imperfect way.   

I am an Assistant Professor of Aviation and Space at Oklahoma State University. At OSU, I spend time teaching undergraduate and graduate Aviation and Space majors, and I also conduct research in my interest areas of planetary science and STEM education.  Within planetary science, I study meteorites (rocks from space!); I love to learn about the way planetesimals melted in the early solar system.  I am a member of the Choctaw Nation of OK, and I am grateful to work with Native nations in OK on earth and space science STEM curriculum.  Previously, I worked in STEM education at Tulsa Community College after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.  In my spare time, I  greatly enjoy speaking at public events and schools; I educate all ages (3 to 103!) through public outreach events, presentations, classroom visits, and more. My greatest desire professionally is to gain a better understanding of space and to share that understanding with others.