Holly Andres

Holly moved to Kansas, where she has roots, to join the Kansas Biological Survey in her position with the NSF-funded AccelNet program (Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations), which will facilitate international plant-fungal research. As research coordinator, Holly will develop the program's database, coordinate research activity and facilitate communication among researchers, and organize an international conference planned for 2025.

Her prior experience is rich and varied. She joined the U.S. Army in 2003 and was stationed first in Monterey, Calif., where she earned the A.A. in Arabic, then did further training in Texas and traveled to Germany in 2005. She was stationed there as a cryptologic linguist analyst through 2008 then served in the Texas Army National Guard for one year. After transitioning out of the military, she returned to her early interests in the environment and was drawn to the Environmental Science program in West Virginia. She then earned a certificate in sustainable food and farming at the University of Massachusetts and completed (as a veteran) the University of Michigan's Heroes to Hives program in beekeeping for military personnel. She also completed a permaculture design certification in 2022 in Union, Maine; afterward she designed the permaculture landscape for a 47-acre parcel, obtaining funding through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.