Rachel Combs-Giroir

Rachel Combs-Giroir, from St. Louis, Missouri, holds a B.S. in Biology from the University of Missouri and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Translational Plant Sciences program at The Ohio State University. Under the guidance of Dr. Andrea Gschwend, her research focuses on unraveling the physical and molecular mechanisms behind flooding tolerance in the biofuel cover crop, pennycress.

She is a 2020 recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. Rachel has actively participated in her department’s graduate student association and has mentored students at various academic levels. Passionate about leveraging cutting-edge research for climate change solutions, Rachel plans to graduate in spring 2024 and pursue a career in the agricultural industry, particularly in genomics, breeding, and computational biology.