Originally from central New York, Laurel Meierdiercks studied in Florida, Georgia, and Belgium before relocating to Durham, NC during her PhD candidacy. In March 2024, she received her PhD after successfully defending her dissertation on environmental ethics. As an Assistant Managing Editor, Laurel applies her years of academic publishing experience to the management of peer-reviewed journals and other scholarly publications. She enjoys streamlining workflows, working with editors and experts, and bringing authors’ hard work to fruition through editorial support. Laurel spends her evenings and weekends out in her gardens accompanied by her two rescue dogs, her husband, and her almost three-year-old daughter.