Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Understanding the importance of root architecture and crop improvement

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  The best part about being a scientist is focusing on an intriguing question, developing an experiment and discover something previously unknown! In addition, we play a role in improving the world.

  
  
• 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):

  Remember to have fun, I continue to work in the sciences because I enjoy what I am doing. Do not be afraid of the unknown. It is okay to fail, science is all about failing, we learn more when failing than we do succeeding. Science is truly a community, so don't be afraid to seek help.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  When and why did you decide to go into a science career?

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

  I decided a career in science by having a very enthusiastic, engaging botany teacher that really sold me on it, this is why I think teaching is so important, it shapes the lives of others. I also had a mentor that really pushed me when I needed it most and really believed in me, then gave me the tools to succeed in the science, and this is why a mentor is so important to have.

  
  
• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

  
  
• In addition to English, I am comfortable communicating with students in the following languages:

  (not set)

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

1B Serial Diluters Nate Ellis Apr 23, 2018

Hi All,

Going over everyone's comments, it looks like the control is working as expected but there is concern about the lack of growth/health of the other plates?

First, let's discuss the experimental design. The main idea was to do to…

more

Hi All,

Going over everyone's comments, it looks like the control is working as expected but there is concern about the lack of growth/health of the other plates?

First, let's discuss the experimental design. The main idea was to do to serial dilutions to compare concentration levels. Typically, a serial dilution will have a constant dilution factor, for instance, a ten-fold dilution of the substance in a solution is also a 10-fold or log-dilution or 1M, 0.1M, 0.01M. 

It looks like you used the common ratio of 1/2 which sounds like a good start for this experiment. You showed the following; 

3 drops x 1 ml/20drops x 300spores/4ml = 11.25 spores added to petri dish.
Then for 200 and 100 test samples, it is estimate there are 7.5 and 3.75 spores plated respectively. 

If you used a log-dilution, the change in concentration would have been too drastic, ex. , starting with 11.25 as the control and quickly decreasing to 1.125 and 0.1125 final spore count. 

What is the recommended concentration for this to work as expected? Or in other words, why did you chose 300 as the control? 

If you were to do this again, would you use that same dilution factor? Also, instead of adding spores to each dilution, could you have reduced potential experimental variables? 

Nate

 

1B Serial Diluters Nate Ellis Apr 23, 2018

An ultraviolet light was used to illuminate the sporangium and natural fluorescence can be observed.  

1B Serial Diluters Nate Ellis Apr 13, 2018

Since it has been a while and there have been some changes, do you mind restating your hypothesis?

As everyone is starting to realize or may have already known, the scientific method is not exactly simple five-step process, its is more of a…

more

Since it has been a while and there have been some changes, do you mind restating your hypothesis?

As everyone is starting to realize or may have already known, the scientific method is not exactly simple five-step process, its is more of a network of ideas that you work back and forth with the goal to progressively improve your experiment. Your beginning hypothesis may change during the experiment based on limitations or new information and your experiment may as well. 

As a scientist, I have never ended a project with the same hypothesis as I started with and often what I had predicted would be the outcome has not been the case. However, these results have often been more interesting than if I had been right!