As a child I had almost free reign to explore the woods and open spaces surrounding my Ohio home, driven by my curiosity about the natural world and a certain sense of adventure. I majored in biology at OSU, which led me to graduate school in plant pathology at UW-Madison. My first job, in a biotech company, led me to my first experience with a tropical disease - banana black sigatoka in Costa Rica. The bigger and more challenging adventures started a few years after joining OSU in vegetable pathology. I signed on to a USAID IPM CRSP project in the Philippines in 1995, beginning 20+ years of collaborative research and development focusing on vegetable crop IPM and diagnostics in Asia, Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe. We developed practical solutions for invasive and endemic pests and diseases that directly improved family income and food security, a really gratifying experience.