Ellen Garcia

Dr. Ellen Garcia is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Conservation and Sustainable Horticulture Lab at Florida International University (FIU). Originally from Miami, FL, she earned her B.S. and M.S. in Environmental Studies from FIU and her Ph.D. in Horticultural Sciences from the University of Florida. During her Ph.D., she also worked at Pairwise, an agricultural gene editing company, contributing to trait discovery and gene editing research. She later joined NASA Kennedy Space Center as a Postdoctoral Research Associate, where she integrated genetic and phenotypic data using multiomics and hyperspectral imaging to understand plant responses to space relevant stress. Her current research at FIU focuses on bioinformatics approaches using genome wide association studies to identify genetic markers associated with commercially important traits in avocado and mango in collaboration with the USDA Agricultural Research Service.