I completed my PhD in the Whitman Lab. After a bachelor’s in Biotechnology I was keen on exploring the environmental sciences with a focus on Microbiology. I received my master’s degree at the Centre for Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, where I was introduced to stable isotopes and its various applications. I have since been very interested to study microbial metabolism in complex ecosystems using stable isotope tracers. My master’s thesis looked into the sensitivity of stable carbon isotopes in tracing microbial metabolic pathways. For my PhD, I studied microbes and their interaction with pyrogenic organic matter in fire affected soils with the help of stable isotope tracers.