Priyanka Kushwaha is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Arizona. Her research is focused on characterizing the microbial diversity and understanding the functional role of the microbes in nutrient-limited arid soils. Additionally, she is interested in developing a mechanistic understanding of plant-microbe-metal interactions during plant establishment in metal-contaminated mining soils. She earned her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at Florida International University, Miami, FL where her dissertation work was focused on understanding the soil microbial functional capacity in urbanized soils.