Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  University of Oklahoma

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research is on genetic expression during flowering plant sexual reproduction.

  
  
• 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):

  I was interested in science from before first grade and constantly learning , taking home books, memorizing what I thought I needed to. Unlike a lot of kids, I taught my parents the constellations and stars in first grade. My dad checked out a book and found out I was right. During grade school my teachers often asked me to do some of the teaching. When I found out I could do that for a living, I thought that was great.

  
  
• 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):

  I learned that the two sperm cells of the flowering plant Plumbago zeylanica were different in all sorts of ways including lots of characteristics from gene expression to cytoplasmic organelles and that one specific cell was destined to fuse with the egg cell and the other to jump-start the formation of the endosperm. I created the concept of the male germ unit where both sperm cells were physically associated with the tube nucleus of the pollen to form a functional unit for reproduction. This plant also lacks synergids, which in almost every other flowering plant receive the pollen tube and transfer the male gametes to the egg and central for fertilization. These functions appear to be transferred to the egg and central cell.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is tough about being a scientist?

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

  Staying funded and surrounding yourself with other interesting scientists!

  
  
• 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

foxgloves ¨Team 3¨ Scott D Russell Dec 5, 2017

Hi Marisa  ....  did your experiment work exactly the same as Maddie and produce similar results?  In real science, the tests that work differently or do not follow the initial idea are often the most interesting.  What is the…

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Hi Marisa  ....  did your experiment work exactly the same as Maddie and produce similar results?  In real science, the tests that work differently or do not follow the initial idea are often the most interesting.  What is the next logical experiment???  What kinds of controls might you do???

foxgloves ¨Team 3¨ Scott D Russell Dec 5, 2017

Hi Maddie ....  did any of the solutions out-perform the others .... for instance cause the leaves to float more rapidly?  Why might you think that that would be the case?  

Team (Not sure yet) Project 2 Scott D Russell Dec 5, 2017

What did the breath water indicate that differs from the plain water and the baking soda water????  Which is most like photosynthesis?  What would the next experiment be????!