Senior Regulatory Specialist at USDA
When she was in high school, Monica Galli had plans of becoming a high school agriculture teacher, and began to take education classes in college until she realized that she did not want to be around children for her career. Because she grew up on a ranch, Galli also knew that she did not enjoy being around animals, but always loved being around plants and enjoyed gardening. She switched from being an agricultural education major to a plant science major at Chico State, with plans of becoming a Certified Pest Control Advisor.
Two years before graduating, Galli began to apply for many scholarships and realized that there were many available to students interested in agriculture, especially female students. She came across a scholarship from the USDA meant for “hispanics serving in institutions” called “Public Service Leaders”. Through this scholarship, the USDA agreed to pay for Galli’s last two years of her undergraduate education as long as she agreed to work for the USDA for two years following her graduation. She decided to apply for it, and to her surprise, she was awarded the scholarship.
As she finished her undergraduate career, the economy began to crash, and Galli debated whether or not she still wanted to go to Washington DC and work for the USDA or if it was possible to pay the company back instead. She had also found another fellowship and applied to graduate school in Texas A&M to study agricultural economics. Luckily, the scholarship company agreed to defer her time to pay them or go work for the USDA. However, in 2011, with her thesis still not complete, the USDA asked Galli to move to Washington DC and begin working for them as an agricultural economist. Galli worked as an agricultural economist for the first three/four years until she found a different position, ultimately finding the position she works as now.
Galli enjoys her role as a regulator of genetically modified plants that haven’t been deregulated. She assigns the direct interactions with the plants to the PhD students working for her, but she prescribes the right treatments for the plants. Her goal ensures containment of potential competitive weeds that the plants could become. As such, she grew comfortable with this job, observing plants in our market and ensuring safety protocols are followed.
An example of her current work is harvesting and testing the delivery trucks and grounds of the mysterious outbreak of Roundup Ready Wheat, a genetically modified species of wheat resistant to Roundup herbicide. After two months of harvesting and testing, she and her team spent next two years designing a procedure for farmers to follow to ensure no future outbreak.
She considers her job to be stable as it is part of the government, rather than a private industry. Her role puts her at the highest position in her department. To those potentially going into government fields, Galli recommends using usajobs.gov and also suggests joining a fellowship as she did, rather than pay for grad school.
Authors: Marina Ibrahim and Michael Odesskiy
Two years before graduating, Galli began to apply for many scholarships and realized that there were many available to students interested in agriculture, especially female students. She came across a scholarship from the USDA meant for “hispanics serving in institutions” called “Public Service Leaders”. Through this scholarship, the USDA agreed to pay for Galli’s last two years of her undergraduate education as long as she agreed to work for the USDA for two years following her graduation. She decided to apply for it, and to her surprise, she was awarded the scholarship.
As she finished her undergraduate career, the economy began to crash, and Galli debated whether or not she still wanted to go to Washington DC and work for the USDA or if it was possible to pay the company back instead. She had also found another fellowship and applied to graduate school in Texas A&M to study agricultural economics. Luckily, the scholarship company agreed to defer her time to pay them or go work for the USDA. However, in 2011, with her thesis still not complete, the USDA asked Galli to move to Washington DC and begin working for them as an agricultural economist. Galli worked as an agricultural economist for the first three/four years until she found a different position, ultimately finding the position she works as now.
Galli enjoys her role as a regulator of genetically modified plants that haven’t been deregulated. She assigns the direct interactions with the plants to the PhD students working for her, but she prescribes the right treatments for the plants. Her goal ensures containment of potential competitive weeds that the plants could become. As such, she grew comfortable with this job, observing plants in our market and ensuring safety protocols are followed.
An example of her current work is harvesting and testing the delivery trucks and grounds of the mysterious outbreak of Roundup Ready Wheat, a genetically modified species of wheat resistant to Roundup herbicide. After two months of harvesting and testing, she and her team spent next two years designing a procedure for farmers to follow to ensure no future outbreak.
She considers her job to be stable as it is part of the government, rather than a private industry. Her role puts her at the highest position in her department. To those potentially going into government fields, Galli recommends using usajobs.gov and also suggests joining a fellowship as she did, rather than pay for grad school.
Authors: Marina Ibrahim and Michael Odesskiy