Martha M. Vaughan is a molecular biologist with interdisciplinary training in plant stress physiology, defense signaling, and secondary metabolism. She received both her BSc (2004) and PhD in biology (2010) from Virginia Tech. She conducted postdoctoral research on maize defenses against biotic and abiotic stress with the USDA-ARS Chemistry Unit at the Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, FL. In 2013, she joined the Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research Team at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, IL, to pursue research investigating the effects of abiotic stress on crop–fungal pathogen interactions in a manner that influences downstream mycotoxin production and grain contamination. Her goal is to identify sustainable and climate-resilient strategies to eliminate mycotoxin contamination in grain and enhance food safety. Dr. Vaughan uses ecological, molecular, and biochemical approaches to evaluate plant pathogenicity and the phenomena that naturally regulate mycotoxin production.