Profile

• Time Zone

  Pacific

  
  
• Organization

  University of California - Riverside

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am broadly interested in plant ecology and plant evolution. My specialties are the California flora, quantifying morphology, quantitative methods. My PhD project is studying genetic and morphological variation in manzanitas (genus Arctostaphylos) and I am open to any project involving manzanitas.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  As a scientist your job is to answer questions about things that interest you. This creative freedom makes work very exciting. It is an unreasonably cool profession.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is a typical day like for you?

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

  On any given day I can be in the field (my favorite thing) collecting plants and data, writing code to analyze data (second favorite thing to do), doing molecular work in lab or writing. Depending on my class load, I may also be attending to coursework.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  Can you describe your attitude toward science when you were in high school?

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

  I was a complete slacker in high school. I don't really remember having strong feelings about science then, because I did not apply myself enough for the subject of any class to matter. When I graduated, however, I fell in love with science by reading it on my own. I think I was always oriented toward science, but I just didn't realize it until later.

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

  1