This Is What Science Looks Like at NC State: Colleen Doherty

Editor’s note: This post was written by Colleen Doherty, an assistant professor of molecular and structural biochemistry at NC State. The post is an entry in an ongoing series that we hope will highlight the diversity of researchers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The series is inspired by the This Is What A Scientist Looks Like site.

I am Colleen Doherty, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Structural Biochemistry at NC State.  I am interested in how plants make decisions. In particular, I’m interested in how plants use recurring cues of time and temperature through their circadian clock to decide to respond (or not) to stresses that they encounter. We combine computational biology, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology to try to improve how plants respond to stresses such as drought to improve agricultural productivity.

I love science and feel very lucky to be a scientist.  I am also a manga and anime enthusiast and an out-of-practice bagpipe player.