The Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama is pleased to introduce Dr. Monica Kersch-Becker as a new assistant professor. After receiving her Ph.D. from Cornell University in 2014, Dr. Kersch-Becker held a postdoctoral position at the State University of Campinas in Brazil and in 2017 joined our department as a visiting scholar. Dr. Kersch-Becker’s research focuses on basic and applied aspects of species interactions. She is passionate about chemical ecology at the forefront of science with a strong desire to contribute to problem solving in agriculture. The premise of her research is that organismal interactions that are mediated by chemical signals are critical to the maintenance of biodiversity. Her lab will examine complex multi-species interactions involving plants, pathogens, herbivores and predators.