Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I have studied food web interactions, specifically the interactions of plants, animals, and fungi, with fungi being the main focus of my undergraduate and graduate research.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

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

  I have 2.
  1. Plants take air and sunlight and make sugar. How cool is that?!?!
  2. Plants seem static because they're immobile, but they interact with so many things around them - insects, herbivores, fungi, other plants... The depth of connections in a forest is mind boggling.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

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

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

  I liked science when I was in high school, but I was never super good at math. I ended up going to school to get a music degree. A year after I graduated, a friend commented that I should consider the Applied Biomolecular Science program she was in. I hated it - it was really hard to get back into school when I hadn't studied science or math for 5 years. Then one day in botany class I was daydreaming and when I looked up, the professor had a huge photo of a tree with buttress roots and was talking about their adaptation to thin soils. I was instantly hooked on plants. I learned how to study (school is much easier with study skills!) and I've been going forward ever since.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  I learn something new every single day! Sometimes it's a new way of figuring out an old problem, sometimes it's something new in science news, and sometimes it's something no one has ever tried before. But every day is different and every day I learn a little more about how the world works.

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

  (not set)

  
  
• Availability

  I am currently available for mentoring, please send me team match invitations

  
  
• 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

Trendy Farmers Kate Sidlar Nov 17, 2022

You're welcome!  I was happy to do it!  I've never had students test sand before, so this was really interesting for me too and I am super impressed by how different your results from each of the trails was!  

Please…

more

You're welcome!  I was happy to do it!  I've never had students test sand before, so this was really interesting for me too and I am super impressed by how different your results from each of the trails was!  

Please feel free to post any more questions you come up with over the next few days and I'll keep checking to answer them as best I can.

Happy planting!

Kate

Trendy Farmers Kate Sidlar Nov 14, 2022

Hi Trendy Farmers!

Amazing work!  Your results are super great!  

I have some comments: before you present your results, you might want to change the names from "trial 1," "trail 2," etc to names that…

more

Hi Trendy Farmers!

Amazing work!  Your results are super great!  

I have some comments: before you present your results, you might want to change the names from "trial 1," "trail 2," etc to names that identify how much sand is present.  I know which is which from what you've told me, but for someone else looking in it would be difficult to know which is which.

Do you have any thoughts on why the sand led to less growth?  I can give you some hints: you're right to think about the drainage, but what else do seeds need?  What are the differences between soil and sand? Do you think any of those differences could contribute to the results you got?

One thing I always like to think about at the end of an experiment is what would I do differently if I could do this again.  So think about that!  I'd love to know how you would like to expand this experiment if you had the chance in the future.

Do you have any questions as you're finishing up?  I'll still be checking regularly in case any ideas pop into your hear and you want to ask anything.

Kate

 

Trendy Farmers Kate Sidlar Nov 10, 2022

Howdy Trendy Farmers!

You have some amazing growth!!  Have you thought at all about what caused some of the plants to grow better than others? Are you results what you expected?  Why or why not?

Do you have plans to present your…

more

Howdy Trendy Farmers!

You have some amazing growth!!  Have you thought at all about what caused some of the plants to grow better than others? Are you results what you expected?  Why or why not?

Do you have plans to present your results?  If so, how?

Kate