Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I have taken on a variety of projects with undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I have helped students to study reproductive biology, species diversity, conservation biology, invasive species, restoration ecology, and developmental morphology. I have broad interests in botany, but I have devoted the most effort toward understanding relationships and evolution of the aquatic plant family Menyanthaceae.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  Professional scientists are encouraged to follow their passion, and to study what they find interesting. I can't imagine another career that would allow me so much flexibility to decide what I want to learn, and then to make it happen. It can be challenging too, to work independently on projects, but overall I find it to be very rewarding.

  
  
• 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):

  I would say to explore and learn about career options that are possible. In college we see many students who plan to be medical doctors, but who really haven't explored the breadth of options that Biology has to offer. It's never too late to get excited about something new, and if you find something you love early in life, you can work that much harder toward finding a career that matches your interests.

  
  
• 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 always enjoyed science, because I was learning about the world as it is. Science combines order and chaos, knowledge and mystery, in a way that I find very satisfying. Ultimately I decided to major in Biology because I got good grades in science classes, and even after learning a lot about Biology I still found it to be interesting.

  
  
• 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

Planting Panthers 6KB Nic Tippery Nov 24, 2016

Oh, one more thing: What kind of data will you collect? You can count the number of seeds that germinate, you can measure the length of the seedlings, etc. If you collect more types of data, then you increase the chance that you'll observe a…

more

Oh, one more thing: What kind of data will you collect? You can count the number of seeds that germinate, you can measure the length of the seedlings, etc. If you collect more types of data, then you increase the chance that you'll observe a difference. Happy experimenting!

Planting Panthers 6KB Nic Tippery Nov 24, 2016

I got the files, thanks guys! This looks like an interesting experiment. Have you (or others in your school) tried using the wick method before? It seems to me like a wick might not be effective enough at pulling water up into the soil, but if you…

more

I got the files, thanks guys! This looks like an interesting experiment. Have you (or others in your school) tried using the wick method before? It seems to me like a wick might not be effective enough at pulling water up into the soil, but if you know it will work, then go for it!

Also, do you have any replication? Ideally you would have three different setups with a Diet Coke can, and three different setups with a Gatorade bottle. This way, if there is a difference in growth between Diet Coke and Gatorade, then you would be more confident that the difference didn't just happen by chance. (There is a lot of random chance in biology!)

One more thing: For your hypothesis, do you have an idea of why you would expect beans to grow better in a Diet Coke can than they will in a Gatorade bottle? Does it depend on the material of the container, the residue of leftover soda, or something else?

I'm excited to see how your results turn out!

Planting Panthers 6KB Nic Tippery Nov 11, 2016

Hi guys,

 

It looks like you tried to upload a Google Docs file, but I can't access the file. Can you try exporting the file in Word format and uploading that? Alternatively, you can paste the text of your document into the Updates…

more

Hi guys,

 

It looks like you tried to upload a Google Docs file, but I can't access the file. Can you try exporting the file in Word format and uploading that? Alternatively, you can paste the text of your document into the Updates section here. I'm excited to see what you've come up with!

 

Dr. T