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I am interested in applied entomology, agroecology, arthropod biodiversity, ecology, and behavior, integrated pest management, crop protection, invasive species, and using data science to answer research questions...

Some of my technical skills include being a pesticide applicator and efficacy consultant, using R and Python for data analysis and developing machine learning models, performing PCR to identify gut-contents, parasitism and virus presence, and performing ELISA for gut-content analysis.
 
I work as a research associate at the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Unit and Oregon State University, where I research integrated management of insect pests in various horticultural crops.  My research projects are developed in collaboration with teams of researchers from multiple land-grant universities and government agencies in various countries.

I lived in Vienna, Austria for 3 years, where I worked in the private tech industry and briefly at the University of Vienna. As  a
senior data scientist I developed deep learning neural networks for agricultural extension technology projects. I am also the co-creator of Orius AI, a computer vision tool to automatically identify insect pests and facilitate monitoring in crops.
 
I briefly worked as a researcher and administrative assistant at the Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Fruit Fly Biosecurity Innovation at Macquarie University in Sydney Australia, where I investigated the antipredatory behavior of wild and mass-reared irradiates Queensland fruit flies. 

I obtained my PhD from the Department of Applied BioSciences at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Sustainable Agriculture division. My dissertation topic was the biological control of cotton pests, focusing on the ecology and behavior of beneficial predators (insects and spiders) in these agroecosystems.

I got my masters in Environmental Management in 2010 from Portland State University (Portland, Oregon, USA). My main focus was environmental education, and for my graduation project I worked on compiling outreach and educational material for farmers regarding implementing conservation biological control in their fields. I worked alongside the Xerces Society, a non-profit organization that promotes invertebrate conservation.

After obtaining my bachelor's degree, I did a brief internship at University of Copenhagen's Animal Behavior Research Center.

But it all started in Bogota, Colombia, where I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Biology from Universidad de los Andes in 2007, with a focus on organisms and ecology.
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