Sharon Badilla Arias is a master’s student in Dr. Gleason’s lab at Iowa State University in the Plant Pathology and Microbiology Department. She holds a bachelor’s degree and a Licentiateship from Universidad de Costa Rica. Her research focuses on pollination and weed control optimization under mesotunnel systems, in addition to a study of biological control of the cucurbit bacterial wilt pathogen, Erwinia tracheiphila.