Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  University of Georgia - Athens

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I study how plants move water and how that affects their ability to perform their basics functions, such as photosynthesis and staying upright. I specifically study wild sunflowers that grow in habitats ranging from wetlands to deserts, so provide a good range of adaptations to different availabilities of water.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  I love so may plants that this is a very tough question, but I'd have to say that among my top favorite plants is the ghost plant (Monotropa uniflora). This is a plant that steals its nutrients from the roots of trees, and actually doesn't photosynthesize or make its own food (breaking one of the fundamental rules of being a plant). Because this plant doesn't have to photosynthesize, it doesn't make chlorophyll in its cells, and is white instead of green.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

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

  My favorite thing about plants is that they can't move (or at least very far; look up walking palms [Socratea exorrhiza]). Many people find this boring, because they can't run, fight, or cuddle; but I enjoy learning how plants deal with harsh environments when they can't simply pick up and find a better environment down the road. Thus, plants have found fascinating ways to deal with too much water (some plants have snorkels! [see aerenchyma]), too little water (plants will split their photosynthesis into two parts: soaking up sunlight in the day, but only taking up CO2 at night when they will lose less water through the openings that take up CO2, called stomata), and other extremes in environmental conditions.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  Being a scientist is all about critically thinking about the world around you. My favorite part of being a scientist is that if you have a question about something in nature, you can simply ask it and have the tools to work towards an answer.

  
  
• How did you hear about PlantingScience?

  Colleague/Friend

  
  
• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

Group 1 Alex Pilote Nov 7, 2016

It was nice working with you all! Thanks for keeping me updated and good luck with your future science endeavors!    

Group 5 Alex Pilote Nov 7, 2016

That's great! How does your data look? You said you had found that the plants in the dark were growing more quickly. Do you have any thoughts on why this was?    

Group 5 Alex Pilote Nov 4, 2016

Sounds good! Let me know if y'all need any help interpreting results.