Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Bee Vectoring Technology, Inc.

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I just finished my Masters project on Cercospora leaf spot, a fungal disease, in sugar beet (not to be confused with red beets). We want to see how weather affects spore levels to improve disease management. I currently work at BVT, a biopesticide company that uses bees to transport beneficial fungi to crops to prevent disease.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  (not set)

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

  (not set)

  
  
• 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):

  Take as many science courses as you want, but also diversify your interests. Take a psychology class. Learn some geography. Don't be afraid to learn about things that may be perceived as 'unscientific'; it helps you think differently and prevents science burnout. Also, WORK ON YOUR WRITING! There is a bunch of communicating in science, be it presentations, papers, reports, memos, what have you - you have to be able to share all the cool stuff you find out. In my experience many science students don't worry about grammar and spelling in school, however, this is a poor life choice. Flow, sentence structure, all those things your English teacher harps about - they are very important.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is a typical day like for you?

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

  Because I work in plant agriculture no two days are alike, the things I'm doing vary depending on the season. In the spring, projects and experimental plans are finalized and the plants are seeded or transplanted into the field. In the summer, it's actually a calmer time of year than people expect. We are just waiting for things to grow, then we apply treatments and record observations. The late summer/early fall is very busy, we have to harvest everything we have planted, and get our final set of data. After harvest we have to quickly analyze our data and write reports so people know what we did and will continue to fund our research (a lot of reports are due by Halloween). In the winter it is more low-key, we are finishing reports and getting everything ready for the next season...a lot of people go on holiday to use all the extra time they worked in the summer and fall.

  
  
• Help represent the outreach efforts of your societies. Please click all those organizations you are a member of:

  (not set)

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

The Cool Cucumbers Sherri Tedford May 4, 2017

Hi again Cucumbers,

I looked at your presentation, and I want to start by saying congratulations on successfully finishing your experiment! I uploaded my suggestions to the project files, my edits are in yellow comment boxes throughout the file.

… more

Hi again Cucumbers,

I looked at your presentation, and I want to start by saying congratulations on successfully finishing your experiment! I uploaded my suggestions to the project files, my edits are in yellow comment boxes throughout the file.

I would like to suggest you go through your slides and make them bullet points. Don't forget that you will be talking through the presentation, you don't need everything you want to say written on your slide, just the important bits. If there is something you want to remember to say, put it in the "notes" section under the slide

I also think you should reorder your slides, I mentioned this in my comments in the file, but let me know if anything does make sense. Generally, things should go: Background info, research rationale, research question, hypothesis, materials & methods, results, discussion (why you got those results), conclusions, further research & experimental errors.

Let me know if anything is not clear, or if you would like for me to look at your presentation again. When do you get to present your findings?

The Cool Cucumbers Sherri Tedford May 4, 2017

Hi Cucumbers,

It looks like you have made lots of progress :)

I was reading the updates you made to your project outline, and I'm not sure I understand the last line of your conclusion. "floods and droughts can grow plants just as…

more

Hi Cucumbers,

It looks like you have made lots of progress :)

I was reading the updates you made to your project outline, and I'm not sure I understand the last line of your conclusion. "floods and droughts can grow plants just as well as average climates do, however, they will not grow as well and they will end up dying." You say they do grow as well and the don't grow as well, I find that is a confusing contradiction. Could you explain what that means?

The Cool Cucumbers Sherri Tedford Apr 24, 2017

Great! Good job guys! In the final stages now. Let me know if you would like me to proofread your presentation. Please send me the file, though, not a google pres link (I'm not allowed to open them because they can contain emails etc)