Lauren was in the Steen lab from 2014 to 2020, during which time she worked as an undergraduate researcher, lab manager, and graduate student. After completing a master’s thesis on enzyme activities in contrasting temperate and Arctic estuarine sediments, she has taken a job at Microbial Insights, a Knoxville consulting firm that provides a diverse range of services related to environmental microbiology, including environmental remediation, environmental forensics, microbiologically-influenced corrosion and microbial source tracking.