After receiving her doctorate, she worked as an assistant professor at the Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (UAEM) in her hometown of Cuernavaca. At UAEM, she started a research team in a new biotechnology research center and found a new area of interest. “They had a program in medicinal plants, and I became fascinated by that,” Dr. Lorence says. “Many of the compounds that we use as medicines are made by plants” (2006). In 1999, she received a teaching award from UAEM and a Young Investigator Award from CONACYT, equivalent to recognition from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Lorence taught at UAEM until 2002 while also serving as a visiting scientist at Texas A&M in 2000 and Virginia Tech from 2000 to 2001. 

Dr. Lorence became intrigued by a tree that grows only in China and found a colleague at Texas A&M, Dr. Craig Nessler, with the same unique interest. In early 2000, Dr. Lorence joined Dr. Nassler as a Visiting Scientist in the Department of Biology at Texas A&M. Later that year, Dr. Nassler moved to Virginia Tech, and Dr. Lorence joined him, working as a Visting Scientist in the Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology and Weed Science. She worked in Dr. Nassler’s labs for 18 months, studying and manipulating the synthesis route of the plant compound camptothecin, which is very useful as an anticancer and anti-viral agent. During that time, a great partnership and mentorship grew. Dr. Lorence is most proud of her discovery with colleagues from Virginia Tech of a new pathway leading to vitamin C formation in plants.

In June 2001, Dr. Lorence returned to her position at UAEM, but after nine months, she decided to leave Mexico in 2002 and return to Nessler’s lab, this time as a post-doctoral researcher. This was a difficult move that caused her much anxiety; however, outside forces also propelled her decision. “While working in Mexico, it was tough for me to see all of the policies that the new President was changing, in terms of how much he was cutting the budget for science,” she says. “Making the decision to leave a faculty position and Mexico to come to the U.S. was very risky” (2006).

However, it ultimately paid off for her. Dr. Lorence loved her work with Dr. Nessler, and they continue to share a collaborative relationship. “He’s been great and continues to be great to me,” Dr. Lorence says. “We still talk and collaborate very often. I never went through what some scientists go through in terms of not being able to talk about or build on my post-doctoral research. Craig was very happy both to let me go and continue working with me” (2006).

Dr. Lorence is a prolific writer and researcher. She has published dozens of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She has also co-edited several books, including the 2004 best-seller Recombinant Gene Expression. Reviews and Protools, which she co-edited with Dr. Paulina Balbas, a great colleague and friend in Mexico.

In 2005, Dr. Lorence accepted a tenure-track Assistant Professor position at the Arkansas Biosciences Institute (ABI) at Arkansas State University (A-State). She chose Arkansas State University because of its collaborative, interdisciplinary research possibilities. “In a single building, we have experts on biosciences, plant biotechnology, neurosciences, economics…on and on. The fact that your neighbor does something quite different from you is wealthy for both people. At the end of the day, you find out you have a lot more in common than you thought” (2006).

Dr. Lorence says that as a scientist, she often finds inspiration in her primary research subject: plants. “My passion is plants: how they interact with each other, with animals, and microbes in the soil,” she says. “I’m fascinated by how plants make such complex molecules that take chemists years to make” (2006). Dr. Lorence is consistently amazed by their harmonious interactions with surrounding environments in examining plant processes and health. “Plants are stuck in the soil—they have to respond to everything in the environment,” she says. “I work to understand these molecules produced in response to environmental cues, how a plant knows how to do what it does” (2006).

Dr. Lorence was promoted to Associate Professor in 2009 and tenured in 2010. In 2010, she received a Distinguished Woman in Science award from the Congress of the State of Morelos, Cuernavaca. Since 2011, she has led the A-State Plant High Throughput Phenotyping Facility. The first graduates from her Arkansas laboratory include a post-doctoral research associate, two Ph.D. and five M.S. graduates, four laboratory technicians, and more than 30 undergraduates who are now successful professionals working in industry or continuing their academic careers. From 2014 to 2017, Dr. Lorence co-led the Plant Imaging Consortium, a collaborative project between Arkansas and Missouri scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) that transforms how scientists look at plants and learn from them.

Dr. Lorence was named full Professor of Metabolic Engineering in 2015. Since 2017, she has co-led the Wheat and Rice Center for Heat Resilience, an initiative funded by the NSF. She also coordinates the North American Plant Phenotyping Network for the Ad Hoc Board. In 2017, she was named the James and Wanda Lee Vaughn Endowed Professor at Arkansas State.