Professor Cupples received her B.S. from the University of East Anglia, her M.S. from the University of Illinois and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. She was a postdoctoral fellow with the USDA before joining MSU. Her research concerns the use of microbiology to understand and treat soil and water contamination. She is particularly interested in the application of molecular microbiology to identify of the microorganisms and functional genes associated with contaminant biodegradation of both legacy and emerging contaminants.