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

shscasesweeneyspring2022 project 2 Kate Sidlar Apr 18 at 12:27am

Hi Team!

Do you have any ideas about what you might do for your project?  Have you done any brainstorming yet?  Is there anything you're particularly curious about that you might be able to test?

I'm really looking forward to…

more

Hi Team!

Do you have any ideas about what you might do for your project?  Have you done any brainstorming yet?  Is there anything you're particularly curious about that you might be able to test?

I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas!!

Kate

shscasesweeneyspring2022 project 2 Kate Sidlar Apr 18 at 12:25am

Hi Braley,

It's a great thing to be curious about differences you see in things that seem like that should be the same!  You know that you're expecting to see the pollen in the lily.  Can you think of any reasons that you might…

more

Hi Braley,

It's a great thing to be curious about differences you see in things that seem like that should be the same!  You know that you're expecting to see the pollen in the lily.  Can you think of any reasons that you might not see pollen in a lily? Why wouldn't a lily produce pollen? Or might it have been produced and you just didn't see it for some reason?  These are interesting questions to think about!

 

The Pod Squad Kate Sidlar Apr 11 at 10:53am

Hi Team,

I've really enjoyed watching as your project progressed.  In all my years with Planting Science I've never seen one about colours of light before!  Even though it may not have turned out as you expected, you still got…

more

Hi Team,

I've really enjoyed watching as your project progressed.  In all my years with Planting Science I've never seen one about colours of light before!  Even though it may not have turned out as you expected, you still got to learn a lot (like extra variables that might need to be controlled).  Great job!

I'll keep checking back for a few days in case anyone has any last lingering questions about the experiment, or plants in general, or being a scientist.  

Stay curious!

Kate