Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  USDA-ARS Appalachian Fruit Research Station

  
  
• Employment Status

  Government Agency

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I recently completed my Phd in plant pathology, studying natural and genetic methods for controlling toxin-producing fungal pathogens in maize. My interests broadly include plant-microbe interactions, biological control, entomology, and urban agriculture.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  When and why did you decide to go into a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  I decided to pursue a career in agriculture when I read about pest control advisors and how they advise farmers for the pests and diseases they encounter in their fields, then in undergrad I was hired onto a research team where we raised parasitic wasps to fight Asian citrus psyllid and citrus greening disease in California. Ever since then I have been passionate about research and biological control!

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  Do you have advice for students about preparing for a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  Talk to teachers about topics you find interesting, and begin looking up scientific articles and reading them carefully to learn more about them. Search for most cited journals in the fields you're interested in and peruse the papers there! Don't be afraid to read, do word searches for words and ideas you don't know.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What lessons have you learned in your career about how science works?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  Science is extremely complex and thus can be challenging to study and make discoveries in. That is just its nature though and should not discourage you from pushing forward! Failed experiments should not always be taken personally and instead should be looked upon as growing your patience and persistence for all areas of life.

  
  
• In addition to English, I am comfortable communicating with students in the following languages:

  (not set)

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  4

  
  

Recent Posts

ohsellefsonposfall2023 project 3 John S. Bennett Dec 4 at 08:53am

Good morning team, 

Hope you had a nice weekend! I was able to get out for a hike on the Maryland Heights trail near Harper's Ferry, WV. I love getting outside any chance I get.
How are the experiments or data analysis going? Looking…

more

Good morning team, 

Hope you had a nice weekend! I was able to get out for a hike on the Maryland Heights trail near Harper's Ferry, WV. I love getting outside any chance I get.
How are the experiments or data analysis going? Looking back at my graphs I would ignore the second one with the number of discs floating and the blue regression line--it was fun to make but the way I calculated the numbers was not meaningful. 
Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week!

Project 4 John S. Bennett Dec 1 at 02:58pm

Hey Team, glad to hear from you! Excellent, straightforward and concise writing for your hypothesis and rational. While thinking about the treatments you'll be using, I can think of another control you could include (you don't have to since…

more

Hey Team, glad to hear from you! Excellent, straightforward and concise writing for your hypothesis and rational. While thinking about the treatments you'll be using, I can think of another control you could include (you don't have to since you've probably already started), and that would be to have a 4th treatment of decaf coffee. This would tell you if coffee itself is having an effect or if it's just due to the caffeine content. I'm interested to see your results!
Yes I agree plants may make caffeine as a defense--I don't know that myself but it makes sense. Your last point is interesting and has a good idea, but the plants have been making caffeine a lot longer than we have been using them and propogating them. So while there may be a lot more cocoa plants than there used to be and we may be starting to breed them a bit, they have not really had selective pressure or "encouragement" from humans to produce caffeine. Hope that helps! Let me know if you have any questions or further thoughts, it is fun to ponder!

ohsellefsonposfall2023 project 3 John S. Bennett Nov 21 at 02:00pm

Got them! If you want to try your hand at recreating graphs like these that would be excellent practice, and if you get stuck I think I can share my excel file. 
Note you'll have to go to the files tab on the top left of this page to see…

more

Got them! If you want to try your hand at recreating graphs like these that would be excellent practice, and if you get stuck I think I can share my excel file. 
Note you'll have to go to the files tab on the top left of this page to see the graphs. I do not know why they are always cropped in the posts.