Kyra Keenan

A Madison native, Kyra is a second-year PhD student in Chemical and Biological Engineering at UW studying plant-associated microbial communities for their application in agricultural systems. She is passionate about the intersection of environmental conservation and space exploration – the primary goal of her research is to bolster crop production in poor soils and Martian regolith by leveraging beneficial bacterial interactions. Outside of the lab, Kyra enjoys spending time outside trail running, gravel biking, and rock climbing. On a rainy day she can be found tending to her houseplants and making pottery.