Profile

• Time Zone

  Pacific

  
  
• Organization

  University of California - Davis

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am interested in how plants sense and respond to their environment. Plants are sessile so they must have immensely plastic abilities to react to stimuli and adapt to their current situation. I am most interested in how small molecules and chemicals from the environment can affect plant processes. The main focus of my work is on karrikins: small molecules that are a main component of smoke, released when organic materials are burned. This is especially relevant here in California, when wildfires are extremely common. Karrikins have been shown to be released in fires, and then seep into the soil where they can stimulate seed germination. This process has been examined in the model plant Arabidopsis, the ancestral plant P. patens (moss), but has never been examined in gymnosperms, the major species to actually depend on a fire-ecosystem. I hope to examine the effects of karrikin on gymnosperms at the protein level, specifically to examine the karrikin receptor and downstream interactors.

  
  
• Do you have previous experience in mentorship or educational outreach? Please list here (200 words)

  Personally, I greatly prioritize mentorship and outreach in science. I have many great mentors to thank in getting to where I am now. I have extensive experience in mentoring students at the undergraduate level in the laboratory and have mentored over 10 undergraduate students closely over the last 6 years. I take mentoring very seriously and prioritize understanding above all. My undergraduates have gone on to pursue biology-based careers or additional schooling, and my current undergraduates have been awarded numerous scholarships to fund their work in the lab. I like to think that I am able to strike a balance between independence and guidance when it comes to mentoring, and that this has aided in my students’ success. Additionally, I really do love outreach and love being part of the Planting Science Team. I have taken part in teaching my community of all ages at UC Davis’ annual picnic day as well as additional events during my undergraduate at NYU with the Women in Science Group.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  My favorite plant is Aloe vera. It is a beautiful evergreen perennial that is insanely easy to take care of. I appreciate aloe vera because it is used in for so many different purposes. Aloe vera can be used in ointments to soothe burns, in skin care to moisturize skin, and in foods as a tasty jelly. I love my aloe vera plant and I often cut off the leaves to use, but the rest of my plant stays happy and healthy and keeps growing. Aloe plants will even make little baby plants called pups, which I can propagate in a new pot to get another aloe plant or give it to a friend.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  I think the best part about being a scientist is making new discoveries. Sometimes when I see a result, it may be the first time any person has ever observed this phenomena! I find that amazingly motivating; the pursuit of scientific novelty is my favorite part about being a scientist!

  
  
• 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 to go in to a science career because I genuinely find all things plant fascinating. When I first extracted strawberry DNA as a grade-schooler I was super amazed; now I extract DNA from various plant species all the time! It's amazing how much information there is out there to learn, and I went into science in pursuit of learning as much of that information as possible.

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

  (not set)

  
  
• Availability

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

  
  
• Preferred Student Level(s)

  High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12)
  Undergraduate Students
  Middle School Students (Grades 6,7,8)
  Elementary School Students (5th grade)

  
  
• Preferred Investigation Themes

  The Wonder of Seeds (seed germination and growth)
  What about Pollen? (pollen and pollination)
  Foundations of Genetics (traits, variation and environment in rapidly cycling Brassica)
  Genetics in Arabidopsis (investigation with a model species to track transmission of traits)
  Agronomy Feeds the World (where does food come from?)
  Celery Challenge (plant anatomy, osmosis and diffusion)
  C-Fern in the Open (sexual reproduction, alternation of generations)

  
  
• Challenge, ELL, Honors

  Academically Challenged
  ELL - English language learners
  Honors or AP - Advanced Placement

  
  
• Videoconference Ability

  Yes

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

  1

  
  

Recent Posts

Germination Giants Angelica Guercio Nov 5, 2021

Hi team, wow a presentation, that sounds like a great way to sum up your results! I'm excited to see what you all conclude. If it was me I would include the root mass, why not! Often scientists publish all the data they can possibly get just to…

more

Hi team, wow a presentation, that sounds like a great way to sum up your results! I'm excited to see what you all conclude. If it was me I would include the root mass, why not! Often scientists publish all the data they can possibly get just to give a really complete idea of what is going on! I think it would be a cool addition to your presentations too. 

Germination Giants Angelica Guercio Nov 4, 2021

Hi Germination Giants Team!! I am so excited to see all your journals and your plotted results! The graphs look great, great job! So I have some questions about your plots as you start making your conclusions. First, I am wondering how your plants…

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Hi Germination Giants Team!! I am so excited to see all your journals and your plotted results! The graphs look great, great job! So I have some questions about your plots as you start making your conclusions. First, I am wondering how your plants got 'shorter' over time. I see some plants that went down in height over the days. Are those the plants that you noticed were kind of shriveling up or dying? Also an advice I have (not a huge deal but might help y'all out) is that usually we make sure to put units on our x and y axes. For example your y-axes would be something like Average height (cm), or (inches), etc. Additionally you can add an x-axis label that says date or something like that. Also, do you plan to make some sort of plot for your root mass? I think that would be a cool addition, maybe like a bar plot with the root mass for each plant and each light. Also maybe yall would like to add some sort of images of your plants to show the possible 'etiolation' I had mentioned to y'all previously? An example of this is in this article Figure 3: http://photobiology.info/Franklin-NLE.html or this article Figure 7.1: https://reader.elsevier.com/reader/sd/pii/B9780128019221000075?token=B6C2ACBF1A901D93883E5F3C45F470C782BB98ACD45A8FB6DC7B00703FAD80FC3EB398F3A59A976A365970519AB0E547&originRegion=us-east-1&originCreation=20211104173033. Excited to see what yall come up with, let me know if you need help with your conclusions!!

 

Germination Giants Angelica Guercio Oct 29, 2021

Congrats on a great experiment yall!! I love how you removed the plants from the pots and took images of them. It is always best to record any and all of your observations, and you certainly have a lot of interesting ones. I am so glad you…

more

Congrats on a great experiment yall!! I love how you removed the plants from the pots and took images of them. It is always best to record any and all of your observations, and you certainly have a lot of interesting ones. I am so glad you enjoyed it, I think you all did a great job running your experiment and recording results throughout, now its time to assemble and start analyzing your data. Let me know how you are thinking to prepare your final results. I'm excited to see your conclusions!