EDUCATION

Rice University: (2020-2023) B.Sc. in Biosciences with Integrative Biology concentration

Cornell University: (2023-present) Ph.D. in Fungal Biology with minors in Genetics and Microbiology

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Ph.D. Student (2023-present)

Pawlowska Lab, Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Field, School of Integrative Plant Sciences, CALS, Cornell University

Projects:

  • Using genetics and fluorescence microscopy to probe molecular mechanisms of endosymbiosis between early-diverging mold fungus Rhizopus microsporus and endohyphal bacteria Mycetohabitans sp.;
  • Describing biological limitations of horizontal transmission of bacterial endosymbionts between fungal hosts;
  • Elucidating how genetic and experimental host status impacts R. microsporus innate immunity;
  • Identify symbiosis factors in Mycetohabitans sp.

Independent Undergraduate Researcher (2022-2023)

Bartel Lab, Biosciences Department, Rice University

Projects:

  • Using multi-omics and gene knockouts to investigate the molecular basis of peroxisomal autophagy in Arabidopsis thaliana

Independent Undergraduate Researcher (2021-2022)

Miller Lab, Biosciences Department, Rice University

Projects:

  • Investigating geographic and climate determinants of fungal endophyte vertical transmission in native North American grasses

AWARDS & DISTINCTIONS

Research!America Meeting the Moment for Public Health Award, accepting on behalf of McClintock Letters initiative, 2026.

Speaker Award Runner-Up , Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology Gordon Research Seminar, 2026.

Best Poster, European Fungal Genetics Conference, 2025.

Best Presentation Delivery, Boyce Thompson Institute Post-Graduate Society Symposium, 2025.

Cornell Fellowship, Spring 2026

Cornell Fellowship, Fall 2023-Spring 2024

Echols Scholar, University of Virginia, 2019

SERVICE

Community Engagement

Co-Founder, Innovations in Science, 2026

Co-Founder, McClintock Letters initiative (see press), 2025

Founding member, Scientist Network for Advancing Policy, 2025

Education Outreach Intern, Clean Ocean Action — 2016-2018

Institutional

Co-President, Cornell Advancing Science and Policy Club (2025-2026)

Plenary Panel Speaker, Cornell Trustee-Council Annual Meeting (2025)

Graduate Student Member, Search Committee for Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Vegetable Pathology (2025)

Member, PPPMB GSA Professional Development and Colloquium Committee (2025-2026)

Member, PPPMB GSA Fundraising Committee (2025-2026)

Vice President, Cornell Advancing Science and Policy Club (2024-2025)

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

Oral presentations

Emma Scales, Teresa E. Pawlowska. Grow all the time, tolerate stress ocassionally: The effect of Mycetohabitans endosymbionts on Rhizopus microsporus stress tolerance. Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology Gordon Research Seminar. Holderness, NH, 2026.

Emma Scales, Maria Laura Gaspar, Olga Lastovetsky, & Teresa E. Pawlowska. What makes a host a host: How fungi perceive & respond to endosymbiotic bacteria. Boyce Thompson Institute Post-Graduate Society Symposium. Ithaca, NY, 2025.

Plenary Panel Speaker, Cornell Trustee-Council Annual Meeting. Ithaca, NY, 2025

Poster presentations

Emma Scales, Teresa E. Pawlowska. Grow all the time, tolerate stress ocassionally: The effect of Mycetohabitans endosymbionts on Rhizopus microsporus stress tolerance. Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology Gordon Research Seminar. Holderness, NH, 2026.

Emma Scales, Maria Laura Gaspar, Olga Lastovetsky, & Teresa E. Pawlowska. What makes a host a host: Prokaryotic endosymbiont accommodation in fungi. Animal-Microbe Symbiosis Gordon Research Conference. Portland, ME, 2025.

Emma Scales, Maria Laura Gaspar, Olga Lastovetsky, & Teresa E. Pawlowska. What makes a host a host: How fungi perceive & respond to endosymbiotic bacteria. European Fungal Genetics Conference. Dublin, Ireland, 2025.

Emma Scales, Maria Laura Gaspar, Olga Lastovetsky, & Teresa E. Pawlowska. Transcriptional profiling of host and non-host Rhizopus microsporus interactions with endosymbiotic Mycetohabitans sp. B13. Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology Gordon Research Conference. Holderness, NH, 2024.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Miles Arnett, Dimitris Boufidis, Cael Dant, Brendon Davis, Isako Di Tomassi, Kassandra Fernandez, Amanda Finn, J P Flores, Saul J Flores, Alex Lando, Erin Morrow, Disha Patel, Anna Rader Groves, David Ramotowski, Alex Rich, Emma Scales, Lani Tran. The Scientist Network for Advancing Policy (SNAP): building infrastructure for early-career scientists in policy and public engagement. (2026) BioScience. DOI:10.1093/biosci/biag053

Emma Scales. The Lab Bench Under Fascism. (2026) Science Policy in a SNAP.

Emma Scales. German visiting professor unable to enter the U.S., visa delayed indefinitely. (2020) Cavalier Daily, syndicated by The Washington Post.

For more journalistic pieces, please see my MuckRake portfolio.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Teaching Assistant, Mycology and Mushrooms of Field and Forest (Fall 2025)

Responsibilities:

  • Driving students to field trip locations in 12-passenger van, guiding and assisting collection trips
  • Preparation of specimens for laboratory sessions

Teaching Assistant, Investigative Biology Laboratory course (Fall 2024-Spring 2025)

Responsibilities:

  • Lead instructor for two three-hour lab sections per week, including lectures and guided activities for 35 students
  • Grading of all assignments for 35 students including papers and practical exam
  • Two lectures to ~400 students