Kelly Wrighton is a Provost Endowed Full Professor at Colorado State University, where her laboratory uses genomic enabled technologies to uncover how microorganisms modulate chemical processes in, on, and around us. She is the director of the Colorado State Microbiome (CoSMic) network, which aligns research, teaching, and training across the university. Wrighton laboratory research is ecosystem agnostic, with every environment offering a new perspective on the ‘knobs’ that control the chemical transformations microorganisms catalyze. A current focus area of the lab is on microbiomes modulating greenhouse gas emission across host and environmental systems. The Wrighton laboratory also has research influencing biofuels, energy sectors, and the human health. Recognizing the impact of her team’s research, Wrighton was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers (one of the highest honors from the US President), is a named fellow of the American Geophysical Union and American Society of Microbiology, and has earned awards from the International Society of Microbial Ecology and International Geobiology Society.