Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  Chicago Botanic Garden

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am interested in how native plant communities will respond to climate change. I focus on effects on early plant life stages, such as seed dormancy break, germination, and seedling establishment.

  
  
• 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):

  Biology was my favorite class in high school, but I did not decide to go into a career in science until I was in college. My sophomore year I took a horticulture and plant evolution class and began a work-study position at the botanic garden at my college. My plant evolution professor recognized my passion for the subject and asked me if I would be interesting in working in his plant ecology lab. From that point on I was completely committed to a career in plant science.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  The best thing about being a scientist is being able to discover new information about the natural world using the scientific method. As a scientist I get to ask questions that currently have no concrete answer, and design an experiment to answer that question. Not only is the process of discovery exciting and satisfying on a personal level, I also get to share my findings with those on the front lines of plant conservation and ecological restoration.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  I have many favorite plants, but one that will always be high on the list for me was the subject of my college thesis: Twinleaf. It is botanical name is Jeffersonia diphylla, in honor of Thomas Jefferson. This small, charismatic plant is found on the forest floor throughout the eastern United States. The leaves are deeply lobed, giving the appearance of two twin leaves. Twinleaf produces a distinctive white flower in the spring, which develops into a somewhat strange cone shaped pod. When mature, the lid of the pod lifts up and the seeds inside it are dumped onto the forest floor. Each seed is equipped with a little tasty appendage called an elaiosome. Ants are attracted to the elaiosome and carry the seeds away from the plant, acting as dispersal agents.

  
  
• 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

Elephant Foot Yam Jessa Finch Oct 28, 2019

Nice graph! I know in this case- since there was zero germination- it's a bit of a moot point, but given you can't have negative seeds germinate (<0) it may make sense in the future to start the y axis at 0 for these kind of data. Just a…

more

Nice graph! I know in this case- since there was zero germination- it's a bit of a moot point, but given you can't have negative seeds germinate (<0) it may make sense in the future to start the y axis at 0 for these kind of data. Just a thought! 

Elephant Foot Yam Jessa Finch Oct 21, 2019

Happy Monday, Elephant Foot Yam! I see you uploaded your data table. It can be a bit of a bummer to have a data set of all zeros, but that happens in science sometimes! A lack of germination certainly leads to many more questions. I'm curious-…

more

Happy Monday, Elephant Foot Yam! I see you uploaded your data table. It can be a bit of a bummer to have a data set of all zeros, but that happens in science sometimes! A lack of germination certainly leads to many more questions. I'm curious- were other groups in your class using seeds from the same seed lot? Did any of their seeds germinate? 

Elephant Foot Yam Jessa Finch Oct 18, 2019

Hi team!

Sorry to hear that you didn't end up getting germination- this happens in science sometimes! You mentioned that no seeds germinated, not even the controls, and that you hypothesized that it was because the fans dried out the paper…

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Hi team!

Sorry to hear that you didn't end up getting germination- this happens in science sometimes! You mentioned that no seeds germinated, not even the controls, and that you hypothesized that it was because the fans dried out the paper towels. My question is, did you have a control without a fan/wind? If you had no germination in a control (without wind) and no germination in treatments with wind, we should conclude that there is no evidence that the wind resulted in the (lack of) germination. What else might be going on? If you were to do this experiment again, what might you do differently?

Have a great weekend, and stay curious, scientists!