Teresa earned her Ph.D. in Food Science from Michigan State University in 2007 and was a postdoctoral researcher in Food Science at Cornell University from 2007 to 2012. She was a faculty member in Microbiological Sciences at North Dakota State University from 2012 to 2020 and joined the faculty at Michigan State University in the fall of 2020 as an associate professor. Her research focuses on understanding stress resistance capabilities of foodborne pathogens in the food supply and assessing inactivation methods. Current research in her lab is funded by USDA NIFA, the Center for Produce Safety, and the Michigan Department of Health.