BIOGRAPHY

Caroline received her B.S. in Biology from the College of William & Mary in 2017. She then received her Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2025 as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, supervised by Dr. Mary Gehring.

Seeds are vital for ecosystems and agriculture. Seed-bearing plants constitute most of Earth’s terrestrial biomass, and approximately 60% of the world’s daily consumed calories are seed-derived. Despite the ubiquity of seeds and their importance to global nutrition, relatively little is known about the hormonal control of seed development and how seed tissues individually control maternal resource flow. Caroline hypothesizes that peroxisomes, organelles that control lipid metabolism and hormone production throughout the eukaryotic tree of life, are vital for a number of events in seed development. By studying the role of peroxisomes in seed development, Caroline will reveal how seeds might jointly regulate maternal resource allocation and hormone production through a specific organelle.

When she’s not in lab, Caroline is usually at a dance class, painting, or training for a marathon.