Planting Science - Members: View: Kate Sidlar
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Kate Sidlar

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

Lovely Lotuses Kate Sidlar

Hi Team!

Thanks for uploading your picture!

Your peas are looking awesome!  

I know you weren't expecting the ones in cotton balls and woodchips to grow much at all, but here they are!  Do you have any thoughts on what…

more
Lovely Lotuses Kate Sidlar

Hi Team,

Thanks for keeping me updated on your progress!

It's ok that your plants shriveled for a few days.  Just make sure you clearly record that happened in your journals.  

Just by looking at the plants (not the…

more
Lovely Lotuses Kate Sidlar

Hi Team,

Interesting observation!  Did you measure the sprouts again after you put the skewers in? If so, the height would look lower if you wrapped the plants around the skewers because some of the height is really going sideways into the…

more

Skills & Endorsements

  • Challenges Student Thinking
    Rebecca BuzzellKatie Lodes
  • Encouraging
    Rebecca BuzzellKatie Lodes
  • Knowledgeable
    Rebecca BuzzellKatie Lodes
  • Responsive
    Rebecca BuzzellKatie Lodes
  • Experienced
    Rebecca Buzzell

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NSF_Logo.jpg This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #2010556 and #1502892. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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