Michelle Qiu Carter is a Microbiologist with the USDA-ARS and works at the Produce Safety and Microbiology Research Unit at the Western Regional Research Center (WRRC) in Albany, California. Michelle received her Ph.D from Michigan State University in 2004. Her dissertation research in Dr. James Tiedje’s laboratory involved the investigation of radiation resistance in Shewanella oneidensis by genomics and functional genomics approaches. She completed her post-doctoral research at Harvard Medical School in Dr. Stephen Lory’s laboratory, where her research focused on the genome and virulence evolution in the opportunistic human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Since joining the USDA-ARS in 2009, Michelle’s research has been centered on the biology and genomics of the Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC).