Janet van Zoeren
Profile
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Time ZoneEastern
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GenderFemale
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OrganizationCornell University
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Employment StatusUniversity / College Staff
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RoleScientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online
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Research Interests (300 words)I am interested in plant=insect interactions, and specifically how we can use our understanding of plants and insects to form more efficient and sustainable agricultural systems. I am most interested in biological control, which is the use of "beneficial", predatory insects, such as ladybugs, to eat and get rid of the pest insects, such as aphids, that are eating our crops. In that way, we can control pest populations in a very cheap way, without spraying as many chemicals.
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Which of the following best describes your career stage?Early Career
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Profile Question 1What is your favorite plant? Why?
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Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):This is a tough questions, because I love a lot of plants! But one of my favorites is definitely the lycopodiums. These tiny little woodland floor dwellers are inconspicuous and adorable, but my favorite thing about them is that their close relatives made up the huge forests during the Jurassic era that the dinosaurs walked through! It is amazing to think how big these tiny little guys used to be.
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Profile Question 2What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?
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Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):I love that plants are more dynamic and responsive than we think of them being. I always used to think plants were just there -- they do their thing and don't really care about anyone else! But the more I learn about them, the more I realize they are constantly interacting with and responding to each other and to all the insects and microbes out there. For example, did you know that plants "communicate" with each other? Some plants, when they are being eaten by an insect, send a signal to the other plants in the area that there are herbivores out there, so the other plants can create more poisonous substances in their leaves to help protect themselves. It's like the one plant is sending out a message to its friends saying "hey guys, there are a bunch of our enemies out here right now, I'm getting attacked, you need to reinforce your defenses now!"
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AvailabilityI am currently available for mentoring, please send me team match invitations
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Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?2
Recent Posts
The Effect of the Amount of Water on Brassica rapa Plants
Janet van Zoeren
This sounds great! Very well organized and excellent description of the project!
How often will you give the plants water?
Let me know if you have any questions for me, and I'll look forward to seeing pictures of your setup and hearing…
The Effect of the Amount of Water on Brassica rapa Plants
Janet van Zoeren
Hi team,
Great research questions! It will be interesting to see what you learn.
How will you decide how much water and what temperatures to use for each of the different conditions? (how will you know what is the "right amount of…
24fjonesmhspos project 5
Janet van Zoeren
As you're building your predictions, I actually really like that you said that you don't know why you think the blue light will cause the disks to rise more slowly. It's very valid to just make a guess, but not know why it would happen.…
moreSkills & Endorsements
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Encouraging
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Responsive
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Challenges Student Thinking
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Knowledgeable