My name is Megan Daniels, PhD candidate at Cornell University in the Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology section in the School of Integrative Plant Sciences. My research, conducted in the laboratory of Professor Kathie Hodge, focuses on the diversity and abundance of fungi in the human environment and fungi associated with food. I’m interested in fungal communities associated with food spoilage, their diversity, and the variation in physiological traits among isolates that enable them survival in extreme environments, such as preserved foods. My current research, which is focused on thermotolerant fungi that survive conventional food processing, is interdisciplinary with collaborators in food microbiology. When I’m not in the lab you’ll find me at hiking or at mushroom forays.